Man Arrested In Plot To Shoot Up Oakland County Grad Ceremony: Sheriff

PONTIAC, MI — A man has been arrested in connection with a Tuesday plot to shoot up a high school graduation ceremony in Oakland County, according to the Oakland County Sheriff's Office.

Officers were called to the United Wholesale Mortgage building in Pontiac, where the Arts and Technology Academy of Pontiac was holding their graduation ceremony on Tuesday, after a fight broke out during the celebration, officials said.

Roughly 1,350 people had registered to attend the ceremony, officials said.

Officials said the fight started in a bathroom at the venue before event security broke it up and told the combatants to leave. The two resumed the fight in the parking lot, prompting security to call for sheriff's officers.

When officers arrived, they began working with security to figure out who the individuals were in the fight, officials said.

While investigating, officials said they learned of a social media post threatening to shoot up the graduation ceremony. Investigators then reviewed surveillance video, which showed two suspects who were involved in the fight placing packages under vehicles before leaving the scene, officials said.

Officials said those packages turned out to contain two loaded guns with high-capacity magazines. They said one gun was an AR-style pistol, and the other was a semi-automatic handgun (Glock), each had a 40-round magazine.

"Just those two weapons, without changing magazines, had 80 rounds of potential firepower," Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said. "Shooting into a graduation, you can only imagine the outcome of that."

A 19-year-old Pontiac man was arrested in connection with the incident after he fled the scene, officials said.

A second suspect, a 20-year-old Pontiac man was arrested hours after the news conference Friday, officials said.

Investigators do not know what sparked the fight, but they did say the suspects have friends and relatives who attend the school. They also said the suspects had ongoing disputes with people in the community.

Anyone with information should call the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office at 248-858-4950.

The foiled plot comes less than a month after federal agents busted an ISIS-inspired mass shooting at a Michigan military base.