Possible mass shooting at graduation thwarted; guns recovered, 1 suspect at large: Sheriff

A possible mass shooting plot at a Michigan graduation ceremony was thwarted, authorities said, and police are searching for one of the suspects who remains at large.

The apparent plot was revealed after authorities responded to a fight that broke out during the Arts and Technology Academy of Pontiac graduation, which was held Tuesday at a business in Pontiac, Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said.

"A person approached our deputies and gave them information that a family member had told them that they had seen on Snapchat a threat to shoot up this graduation ceremony," Bouchard said at a news conference Friday.

Authorities kept investigating and recovered two loaded guns with high-capacity magazines from under cars in the parking lot, the sheriff said.

Law enforcement "probably prevented a mass shooting," the sheriff said.

One suspect, 19-year-old Deahveon Shamar-James Whaley, has been arrested, Bouchard said. Authorities are searching for a second suspect, 20-year-old Jamarion Jaryante Hardiman, the sheriff said.

Hardiman and Whaley were not students at the K-12 charter school but were connected via "friends and relatives," the sheriff said, and they appeared to have "ongoing disputes with individuals in the community."

Hardiman and Whaley "have a history of being involved with weapons and violence," he added.

Bouchard said he's alarmed "how close it was, potentially, to being another mass shooting."

Oakland County is home to Oxford High School, where teenager Ethan Crumbley carried out a mass shooting in 2021.

The sheriff urged the public to share information about threats of violence.

"If you see something, say something," he said.

In this thwarted attack, "Someone saw that [Snapchat] post," Bouchard said, but deputies "didn't hear about it until after we had arrived on the scene" to respond to the fight.

Anyone who sees Hardiman should call 911, the sheriff said.