On Feb. 13, 2023, around 8:30 p.m., over 40 law enforcement agencies across Michigan rushed to the Michigan State University campus in East Lansing as reports of an active shooter came in.
The Oakland County Sheriff’s Office was one of the agencies that sent a convoy of armored vehicles and around 50 deputies in tactical gear with Sheriff Mike Bouchard running point.
“As soon as I got there, I went to the command post. Some of our people had already taken up positions of security around the actual shooting area. But the thing they really needed from us at that point was to have a place where the students could go and be safe and where the parents could meet their kids,” Bouchard said.
Nearly 3 miles away from Berkey Hall and the MSU Union, the sheriff’s team turned the university’s pavilion into a reunification center.
“I was at one door greeting them, hugging a bunch of them,” Bouchard said.
But there was one student the father of three will never forget.
“One young lady had flowers in her hands. It was her birthday. And I remember thinking what a terrible thing for her to deal with that moment that now it will be associated with her birthday,” Bouchard said.