Five shot during holiday party at Rolladium rink

What was supposed to be a night of fun and celebration for 250 to 300 people turned into chaos around 2 a.m. on Friday, Dec. 23, when gunfire erupted at the Rolladium skating rink in Waterford Township, wounding five people, including a 20-year-old White Lake Township woman.

Waterford police have also identified one of the suspects in the shooting that wounded the five young adults — including a 20-year-old man, another 20-year-old woman, a 21-year-old man, and a 23-year-old man, all from Pontiac — who are all expected to make a full recovery after sustaining gunshot wounds to the hands, arms, and legs.

One victim was struck in the upper-torso, according to Waterford Police Chief Dan McCaw, who said the township hasn’t “had anything like this before.”

When he was on his way to the scene after receiving word of the shooting, he said he was “praying to the Lord that nobody got killed.”

According to McCaw, Waterford police were dispatched at around 1:44 a.m. to the roller rink located at 4475 Highland Road, between Pontiac Lake and Crescent Lake roads, on reports of an altercation involving a private pre-Christmas skating party. While en route, officers received word of the shooting.

Three young black males apparently had left the roller rink following two separate altercations, one between a group of males and another between a group of females. The three suspects returned with handguns and started spraying gunfire across the skating rink “indiscriminately,” McCaw said.

The suspects — described as being in their late teens or early 20s, between 5-feet-7-inches and 5-feet-10-inches tall and weighing 165 to 195 pounds — then fled the scene in an unknown vehicle.

One of the suspects was identified as 18-year-old Pontiac resident Robert Lee German. If you have information on where German is, contact police at 248-618-7550. He is considered armed and dangerous.

The shooters are considered armed and dangerous.

“We have no idea what the fight was about,” McCaw said.

It’s unclear whether the suspects were involved in either of the two preceeding altercations, or whether any of the victims were targets.

One shooter was wearing light clothing, while the other two were wearing darker clothing, according to McCaw.

“People started diving and taking cover,” he said.

Public safety agencies from a number of communities responded to the scene to provide assistance, including the Oakland County Sheriff’s Department and first responders from White Lake, West Bloomfield and Keego Harbor, McCaw said.

The victims were taken to separate hospitals for treatment, McCaw said.

McCaw said “this type of incident can happen anywhere” and that Rolladium has been a “very family-oriented business for 65 years” in the community. He added that the skating rink does not serve alcohol.

Anyone with information on the shooting is asked to call Lt. LaLone at 248-618-7538, or the Waterford Police Tip Line at 248-674-COPS (2677). Tips can also be e-mailed to policetips@twp.waterford.mi.us. Tipsters can remain anonymous.

There is a $1,000 reward being offered for information leading to an arrest and conviction.