Speaker 1: We have an active shooter. We have an after shoots,
Speaker 1: go ahead to clear with a mass casualty Welcome to
Speaker 1: Active Shooter, a podcast that covers the wys, the hows,
Speaker 1: and the aftermath of active shooter and mass casualty events.
Speaker 1: I have an active shooter in a building. A checking call.
Speaker 1: That's our big attack. Six we got shots Fliers four
Speaker 1: fifteen al Brouge ninety one sounded like Oh I'm at
Speaker 1: a fire. Active Shooter coorts of an active shooter, Active shooter,
Speaker 1: Active shooter with mash casualty incidents. Thank you for listening.
Speaker 2: You are listening to Active Shooter, a podcast that may
Speaker 2: contain adult themes, explicit language, and graphic depictions of violence.
Speaker 2: Portions of this show may be traumatic for those under eighteen.
Speaker 2: Listener discretion is advised.
Speaker 1: Each of the shooting and mass casualty events that have
Speaker 1: been covered on Active Shooter podcast have qualified under the
Speaker 1: FBI's definition of a mass casualty event, which is defined
Speaker 1: essentially as a shooting by one or more individuals with
Speaker 1: the intent to cause death and results in the death
Speaker 1: of one or more people. On the other hand, according
Speaker 1: to the FBI's website, a mass shooting is defined as
Speaker 1: quote one or more individuals actively engaged in killing or
Speaker 1: attempting to kill people in a populated area, the clear
Speaker 1: difference being the attempt to take human life. Although Active
Speaker 1: Shooters' cases have all been true mass casualty events, the
Speaker 1: case we are presenting today was a mass shooting where
Speaker 1: no innocent people were murdered, but hundreds were still gonne
Speaker 1: down by a man who had every intention of killing.
Speaker 1: It is nothing short of a miracle that no one
Speaker 1: was killed. However, there were are injuries, physical, emotional, and
Speaker 1: psychological damage that will forever exist for those at the
Speaker 1: Brooklands Plaza splash pad on Saturday, June fifteenth, twenty twenty four.
Speaker 1: Today's case is dedicated to the nine injured survivors, as
Speaker 1: well as the hundreds of others who were either witnesses, bystanders,
Speaker 1: or otherwise related to those who were injured. Active Shooter
Speaker 1: the podcast is a High five Holly production, and I'm
Speaker 1: your host Jay. If you've listened to our prior episodes,
Speaker 1: you know that the Active Shooter podcast team has taken
Speaker 1: the no Notoriety pledge and we will not be sharing
Speaker 1: the real name of the shooters that we cover. We
Speaker 1: will be giving the shooters a pseudonym and refer to
Speaker 1: them by that name throughout the episode. This will help
Speaker 1: in clearing up any confusion in the story while remaining
Speaker 1: true to our pledge and not naming the shooter by
Speaker 1: their actual name, we will refer to today's shooter as Felix.
Speaker 1: The Brooklyn Splash Pad is located at fifteen eighty five
Speaker 1: East Auburn Road in Rochester Hills, Michigan, sitting with the
Speaker 1: Brooklyn's Park neighborhood of Rochester Hills, which is a suburb
Speaker 1: of Detroit. Rochester Hills the fourteenth largest city in Michigan
Speaker 1: with a population of just over seventy six thousand, and
Speaker 1: Brookland's Park is the oldest neighborhood in the city. Rochester
Speaker 1: Hills is situated within Oakland County and is under twenty
Speaker 1: miles away from Oxford High School, a shooting we covered
Speaker 1: in episode eighty. The splash Pad is a part of
Speaker 1: the plaza that offers several water features, restrooms and cafe
Speaker 1: style tables and chairs, and sits across the street from
Speaker 1: an ice cream shop. Saturday, June fifteenth, twenty twenty four,
Speaker 1: the day before Father's Day, was sunny and warm temperatures
Speaker 1: were in the mid to upper seventies, and it was
Speaker 1: exactly the kind of perfect evening to gather the kiddos
Speaker 1: up and head to the local splash pad for a
Speaker 1: little aquatic entertainment. At approximately five pm, forty two year
Speaker 1: old Felix drove to the splash pad and parked. He
Speaker 1: collected a nine millimeter glock handgun, exited the vehicle, walked
Speaker 1: a few feet and immediately opened fire upon hundreds of
Speaker 1: people who were splashing, playing and having fun. They weren't
Speaker 1: paying attention to the person with a gun until they
Speaker 1: had no choice but to. Some witnesses later reported that
Speaker 1: Felix carried two firearms, but evidence has proven to show
Speaker 1: a single weapon was used. He walked up the steps,
Speaker 1: where he proceeded to reload the weapon and shot again
Speaker 1: down into the splash pad area. As is so often
Speaker 1: the case, people inexplicably thought fireworks were being shot off
Speaker 1: when the initial shots were fired. When they realized the
Speaker 1: horrifying truth, they ran, or hid or did whatever needed
Speaker 1: to be done to ensure their own safety. The initial
Speaker 1: nine to one one call was placed at five eleven PM,
Speaker 1: and police responded instantly, arriving on scene only three minutes later,
Speaker 1: Felix was already gone. By then police jumped into action,
Speaker 1: sending units to search for the shooter, while others stated
Speaker 1: the splash pad to gain control over the chaos. People
Speaker 1: were running wildly, desperately trying to figure out where safety
Speaker 1: even was. After all, who wouldn't think there was a
Speaker 1: certain level of safety at a place such as a
Speaker 1: splash pad where there were mostly families and children playing.
Speaker 1: Why did this person choose this splash pad? Was there
Speaker 1: a specific target there? Did he have some qualms with
Speaker 1: the splash pad management? There was so much to learn,
Speaker 1: but little would be discovered. Felix fired thirty six times
Speaker 1: and reloaded his weapon twice. It bears repeating this is
Speaker 1: an utter miracle that there were no debts. Injuries, on
Speaker 1: the other hand, were a plenty. There were a number
Speaker 1: of people's shot, while others were harmed when trying to
Speaker 1: run from the shooting. For his part, Felix calmly walked
Speaker 1: back to his vehicle, entered and drove off, as if
Speaker 1: he'd only walked up to enjoy the sight of laughing
Speaker 1: children and wasn't a madman who just attempted to murder them.
Speaker 1: He left behind three empty magazines and the weapon, dropping
Speaker 1: them near a child's rainbow colored sandal and a toy car,
Speaker 1: and he just walked away. The location of the splash
Speaker 1: pad was essentially in the middle of the neighborhood, not
Speaker 1: along a main road. Forty three year old Jerry Schmidt
Speaker 1: was at his mother's home, which was just down the
Speaker 1: street from the splash pad, when he heard shots being fired.
Speaker 1: Jerry sprang into action and raced towards the shooting, only
Speaker 1: thinking of how he might help. Jerry was a registered
Speaker 1: concealed pistol carrier and he had a firearm on his person.
Speaker 1: He snatched up a medical kit and ran towards the
Speaker 1: splash pad. He stopped as he found people in need,
Speaker 1: providing compression bandages and tourniquets as he went. Police immediately
Speaker 1: found the weapon Felix abandoned. They were able to run
Speaker 1: the registration and obtain Felix's address, a mobile home park
Speaker 1: called De Kindre Estates. It was located in Shelby Township,
Speaker 1: only a half mile from the splash pad. Sure enough,
Speaker 1: when police arrived, they saw a vehicle matching the description
Speaker 1: of the one the shooter drove the swant team was
Speaker 1: brought in to surround the home and they attempted to
Speaker 1: communicate with Felix. There was a five hour stand off
Speaker 1: with police where Felix refused to leave the house, and
Speaker 1: out of an abundance of caution, police weren't going in.
Speaker 1: They needed to be ready to react in the event
Speaker 1: that Felix started shooting again at them. Yet, after so
Speaker 1: many hours of trying to contact Felix with no response forthcoming,
Speaker 1: police began to wonder. The home was eventually breached with
Speaker 1: drones and several officers. Felix was found inside of the
Speaker 1: house dead from an apparent gunshot wound. He lived with
Speaker 1: his mother, who wasn't present the entire time the standoff
Speaker 1: and subsequent search took place. Another handgun was retrieved from
Speaker 1: the residence, which, for obvious reasons, police believed to be
Speaker 1: the weapon the shooter used to take his life and
Speaker 1: not the attempted murder weapon. An AR fifteen style rifle
Speaker 1: was recovered as well, and this, along with the other
Speaker 1: evidence collected, led police to believe that the shooter was
Speaker 1: likely planning another attack before. There were a total of
Speaker 1: ten firearms removed from the house during the police search,
Speaker 1: along with computers, thumb drives, and a phone back at
Speaker 1: the splash pad, police blocked off access to the entire
Speaker 1: area using yellow crime scene tape. Dozens of evidence markers
Speaker 1: littered the scene like debris strewn about after a bad storm.
Speaker 1: Before too long, police erected a temporary fence around the
Speaker 1: perimeter of the splash pad area. The police response, besides
Speaker 1: being incredibly swift, was massive. Over one hundred first responders
Speaker 1: arrived on the scene to his sis assist. The shooting.
Speaker 1: Victim's ages ranged from four to seventy eight years old.
Speaker 1: Not a single injured person had a connection two or
Speaker 1: knew the shooter. Immediately following the shooting, three of the
Speaker 1: victims were rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery, including
Speaker 1: an eight year old boy who was placed in critical care.
Speaker 1: He eventually made a full physical recovery, but the emotional
Speaker 1: scars will likely take many years to heal. A four
Speaker 1: year old was also shot in the thigh and taken
Speaker 1: to the emergency room. His mom, Joanna Beiebout, was also
Speaker 1: listed in critical condition at the same hospital. Six victims,
Speaker 1: including a four year old boy, a forty two year
Speaker 1: old male, a thirty one year old male, a seventy
Speaker 1: eight year old male and a thirty seven year old
Speaker 1: female and a thirty nine year old female were released
Speaker 1: from the hospital about four days later, or the Wednesday
Speaker 1: following the shooting. The eight year old boy was hospitalized
Speaker 1: for a longer time, as was a thirty and thirty
Speaker 1: nine year old female. The two youngest boys were brothers
Speaker 1: who were playing at the splash Pad before their lives
Speaker 1: were irrevocably changed. They did not ask for this when
Speaker 1: the shooting began. Danielle and Mario Lefrate were at the
Speaker 1: splash Pad with their three children, a seven year old
Speaker 1: and teenage twin daughters. As the family was fleeing, Danielle
Speaker 1: was clutching her youngest, the seven year old, when she
Speaker 1: was shot twice, once in the back and once in
Speaker 1: the arm. A passerby saw Danielle and frantically motioned her
Speaker 1: towards the car. Danielle got in and rushed to a
Speaker 1: nearby hospital. Meanwhile, her husband, Mario was back at the
Speaker 1: splash Pad when he was separated from their older twin daughters.
Speaker 1: One of the girls was hiding behind the ice cream shop,
Speaker 1: while one was literally hiding in the bushes. Danielle had
Speaker 1: surgery the day after the shooting and was released from
Speaker 1: the hospital to recover at home. Danielle ran a home
Speaker 1: based daycare which was temporarily shuddered while she began her
Speaker 1: healing journey. Mario and the children were physically unharmed, but
Speaker 1: the level of trauma they endured runs very deep. Carlos
Speaker 1: and Carina licud Borges went to the splash pad with
Speaker 1: their six year old son. The couple was each shot
Speaker 1: as they were the first to catch the shooter's eye.
Speaker 1: They both started running to their son when Carlos was
Speaker 1: shot in the knee and Karina was shot in the hand.
Speaker 1: They made it to their son, however, and managed to
Speaker 1: throw themselves over him as human shields protect their son.
Speaker 1: They did both underwent surgery and were sent home to
Speaker 1: recover as a family. Joanna Beebout and her two boys,
Speaker 1: a four and eight year old, were at a splash
Speaker 1: pad enjoying a fun Saturday when the shots rang out.
Speaker 1: Joanna also made herself into a human shield, protecting her
Speaker 1: children as all mama bears do. She and the boys
Speaker 1: were taken to Corwell Health's Royal Oak Beaumont Hospital, where
Speaker 1: they each stayed in the intensive care unit for several
Speaker 1: days before being released. Joanna was shot several times, including
Speaker 1: in both legs, which were each broken her back, abdomen, shoulder,
Speaker 1: and hand. Her eight year old was shot in the
Speaker 1: head and had to have surgery to remove a piece
Speaker 1: of his skull so his brain could properly swell. At
Speaker 1: the time of this release, he is still recovering with
Speaker 1: a protective helmet until the piece of skull can be replaced. Tragically,
Speaker 1: he lost vision in both eyes as a result of
Speaker 1: the injury. Joanna's four year old was shot in the
Speaker 1: leg and had to have a bullet extracted. Mikaela and
Speaker 1: Eric Coughlin had decided to take their daughters, a two
Speaker 1: year old and a seven month old, to get ice
Speaker 1: cream and then go to the splash pad. They thought
Speaker 1: their little girl would get an absolute kick out of
Speaker 1: splashing in the water with other children. The family was
Speaker 1: only at the splash pad for about a minute before
Speaker 1: the shooting started. Each parent grabbed a child and shielded them.
Speaker 1: Mikaela and Eric were shot a combined seven times. Their
Speaker 1: girl suffered no injuries, and the blessing is that they
Speaker 1: likely will never remember the heroism their parents exhibited that day.
Speaker 1: Seventy seven year old Richard Schumborg took his granddaughter to
Speaker 1: the splash pad that Saturday. He was shot twice, once
Speaker 1: in the thigh and once in the abdomen. Richard's granddaughter,
Speaker 1: grasping the seriousness of the situation, ran to the bathroom,
Speaker 1: where she hid with a friend and was ultimately physically unharmed.
Speaker 1: Forty two year old Felix, a resident of Shelby Township,
Speaker 1: lived with his mother and was the youngest of four
Speaker 1: adult children. His mother was quote traveling the United States
Speaker 1: when the shooting occurred, and by all accounts, she seemed
Speaker 1: completely unaware of what her son was up to. Felix
Speaker 1: had no criminal history, and his neighbor's report that he
Speaker 1: was pretty quiet and never really worked much After COVID,
Speaker 1: he mostly stayed indoors with the shades drawn and the
Speaker 1: door shut. His father passed away several years prior to
Speaker 1: the shooting, but it's unclear what impact the death had
Speaker 1: on Felix. Some people who knew Felix said he suffered
Speaker 1: from mental health challenges, but the extent of which isn't known.
Speaker 1: He wasn't formally diagnosed with any type of illness, but
Speaker 1: his family says that Felix had started becoming increasingly paranoid
Speaker 1: in the months leading up to the shooting. He often
Speaker 1: told his mother that she needed to shut her phone off,
Speaker 1: and he would pace the house holding weapons, musing and
Speaker 1: muttering about the government listening to them and tracking them.
Speaker 1: Despite the recent decline, Felix's mom said he was kind
Speaker 1: and outgoing towards others, and there had never been interpersonal
Speaker 1: or any other relationship conflicts that anyone seemed aware of.
Speaker 1: Court documents related to a twenty eleven bankruptcy filing were
Speaker 1: discovered in research of this case. The records indicate that
Speaker 1: Felix filed for bankruptcy after he lost his landscaping company
Speaker 1: during the economic crash of two thousand and nine. The
Speaker 1: business lost most of its clients and as such he
Speaker 1: had to lay people off and let people go. Eventually,
Speaker 1: he couldn't pay bills and got equipment repossessed before finally
Speaker 1: filing for bankruptcy. There are zero known reports of Felix
Speaker 1: being angry or combative. There doesn't appear to be a
Speaker 1: very long or lengthy history of mental health issues or decline.
Speaker 1: In fact, the motive for the shooting is still unknown.
Speaker 1: It does seem, however, that the isolation, fear, and uncertainty
Speaker 1: of the COVID pandemic played a role in the decline
Speaker 1: of the shooter, though not necessarily the reason for it.
Speaker 1: The splash Pad reopened eighteen days after the shooting on
Speaker 1: July third. Before the reopening, the city consulted with mental
Speaker 1: health professionals, who suggested that subtle changes be made, such
Speaker 1: as repainting the main building, replacing the patio furniture, and
Speaker 1: adding stripes to the polls. Joanna Biebout's mother in law,
Speaker 1: Barbara Soften, hosted a blood drive on Sunday, September eighth.
Speaker 1: She was quoted in an article for WXYZ News as saying, quote,
Speaker 1: my daughter in law was shot seven times, and each
Speaker 1: of my grandchildren were shot. One my eight year old
Speaker 1: grandchild is now blind from it because he was shot
Speaker 1: in the head, but it didn't kill his spirits. It
Speaker 1: got me when I found out that we had not
Speaker 1: enough blood on the shelves, that if we had another
Speaker 1: mass casualty, there wasn't enough to help people. My daughter
Speaker 1: in law took two units of blood that we are
Speaker 1: aware of, and if somebody hadn't done that for her,
Speaker 1: she wouldn't be here. You cannot hear about these injuries
Speaker 1: and horror stories without imagining how much worse this could
Speaker 1: have gone. And yet these people have to live, some
Speaker 1: with life altering injuries, reliving the pain and trauma from
Speaker 1: the most disturbing act any individual could live through. Each
Speaker 1: of these shooting survivors is just that a survivor who,
Speaker 1: against all odds, was attacked by a mass shooter and
Speaker 1: made it out alive, albeit changed forever. And that is
Speaker 1: the thing we must not lose. Sight of mass shootings
Speaker 1: cause more harm beyond the deaths of loved ones. The
Speaker 1: impact reverberates throughout the lives of the survivors, families, first responders,
Speaker 1: and witnesses. Although common sense gun reform is the most
Speaker 1: obvious way we can make an impact, there are so
Speaker 1: many other ways you can help, including donating blood, advocating
Speaker 1: for mental health reform, and writing your local politicians that
Speaker 1: you want to see meaningful change. Few people in modern
Speaker 1: American society are untouched by such an event, and it
Speaker 1: is past time that we take a stand, say and
Speaker 1: mean not one more. This episode is also dedicated to
Speaker 1: the first responders of the Oakland County Sheriff's Department and
Speaker 1: all other assisting agencies who recently completed a week long
Speaker 1: trial and sentencing of Jennifer and James Crumbly, the parents
Speaker 1: of the Oxford shooter. Those law enforcement officials were still
Speaker 1: in the midst of dealing with the aftermath of a
Speaker 1: horrific school shooting while responding to yet another shooting involving
Speaker 1: innocent children. We all have the unique ability to help
Speaker 1: prevents such a catastrophic event from happening if we keep
Speaker 1: our eyes and ears open and never hesitate to report
Speaker 1: when something or some one just doesn't seem right. With
Speaker 1: the delicate balance of mental health reform, education, active shooter training,
Speaker 1: and common sense gun laws, we may one day realize
Speaker 1: the dream, the dream that there will be no more
Speaker 1: active shootings. We pray that love will prevail over hate.
Speaker 1: Too many have died, we should say to ourselves, not
Speaker 1: one more. In the meantime, we urge our listeners to
Speaker 1: stay aware of your surroundings and keep in touch with
Speaker 1: your loved ones. If you see something, say something, you
Speaker 1: never know how many lives you'll be saving. Thank you
Speaker 1: for listening to today's episode of Active Shooter the Podcast. Remember,
Speaker 1: if you see something, say something, there's no telling how
Speaker 1: many lives you may be saving. A big thank you
Speaker 1: to Darren Curtis who composed some of the songs on
Speaker 1: our show. You can find him online at www dot
Speaker 1: Darrencurtis music dot com. Make sure to check us out
Speaker 1: on social media. You can find us on Facebook at
Speaker 1: Active Shooter the Podcast and on Twitter at podcast Active.
Speaker 1: Thank you and be safe.