HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. –
A gunman on a rooftop opened fire Monday at an Independence Day parade in suburban Chicago, killing at least six people, injuring at least 30 and causing hundreds of protesters, parents with strollers and children on bicycles to flee. flee in terror, police said. The suspect remained at large hours later as authorities searched the area.
Highland Park Police Chief Lou Jogmen said Monday afternoon that police have identified 22-year-old Robert E. Crimo III as a person of interest and warned that he should be considered armed and dangerous. Police declined to answer questions about how they identified Crimo. Authorities described his car as a silver Honda Fit with Illinois license plate DM 80653.
The July 4 shooting was just the latest to break the rituals of American life. Schools, churches, grocery stores, and now community parades have become killing fields in recent months. This time, the bloodshed came as the nation tried to find reasons to celebrate its founding and the ties that still hold it together.
Mayor Nancy Rotering said the violence “has shaken us to the core,” adding, “On a day when we come together to celebrate community and freedom, we are instead mourning the tragic loss of life and fighting with the terror that brought us. .”
The shooting occurred at a location on the parade route where many residents had staked out vantage points earlier in the day for the annual celebration. Dozens of bullets fired sent hundreds of parade goers, some visibly bloodied, to flee. They left behind a trail of abandoned items that showed daily life suddenly and violently interrupted: a half-eaten bag of potato chips; a box of chocolate chip cookies spilled out on the grass; a child’s Chicago Cubs cap.
“There is no safe place,” said Barbara Harte, 73, of Highland Park, who had stayed away from the parade fearing a mass shooting but then ventured out of her home.
Lake County Major Crime Task Force spokesman Christopher Covelli told a news conference that “several of the deceased victims” died at the scene and one was taken to a hospital and died there. Police have not released details about the victims or injuries.
Lake County Coroner Jennifer Banek said all five people who died in the parade were adults and she has no information on the sixth victim who was taken to a hospital and died there.
Roberto Velasco, Mexico’s director of North American affairs, said on Twitter Monday that a Mexican citizen was killed in Highland Park and added that two other Mexicans were injured.
Dr. Brigham Temple, medical director of emergency preparedness at NorthShore University Health Center, said the Highland Park hospital received 26 patients after the attack and all but one had gunshot wounds. Their ages ranged from 8 to 85, and Temple estimated that four or five patients were children.
He said 19 of them were treated and released. Others were transferred to other hospitals, while two patients, in stable condition, remained at Highland Park Hospital.
The shooter opened fire around 10:15 am, when the parade was three-quarters full, authorities said.
Covelli said the gunman apparently used a “high-powered rifle” to shoot from a spot high up in a commercial building where it was “very difficult to see.” He said the rifle was recovered at the scene. Police also found a ladder attached to the building.
“Very random, very intentional and a very sad day,” Covelli said.
US President Joe Biden on Monday he said he and first lady Jill Biden were “shocked by the senseless gun violence that has once again caused an American community pain on this Independence Day.” He said that he had “requested the federal police to assist in the urgent search for the shooter, who remains at large at this time.”
President Joe Biden said Monday that he and first lady Jill Biden were “shocked by the senseless gun violence that has once again caused the American community pain this Independence Day.” He said he had “requested federal law enforcement to assist in the urgent search for the shooter, who remains at large at this time.”
Agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were urgently tracking the rifle, agency spokeswoman April Langwell said. Federal agents conduct these traces to identify when, where and to whom the gun was last sold.
Biden signed the most far-reaching gun violence bill passed by Congress in decades, a compromise that showed both progress on a long-intractable issue and the deep-seated partisan divide that persists.
Police believe there was only one shooter but warned that he should still be considered armed and dangerous. Several nearby cities canceled events, including parades and fireworks, with some noting the Highland Park shooter was still at large. Evanston, Deerfield, Skokie, Waukegan and Glencoe have canceled events. The Chicago White Sox also announced on Twitter that a planned fireworks display after the game was canceled due to the shooting.
“There is a tragic mass act of violence that was random here today at a community event where people gathered to celebrate, and the offender has not been apprehended as of yet,” said Covelli, the spokesman for the crime task force. “So could this happen again? We don’t know what his intentions are at this point, so we’re certainly not sure about that.”
More than 100 law enforcement officers were called to the parade scene or dispatched to find the suspected shooter.
Hours after the shooting, law enforcement officers searched an office building near where the shooting occurred. Nearby, armed FBI agents dressed in camouflage also escorted a family with two young girls across Central Avenue. The children seemed visibly scared even as their mother tried to reassure them that the officers leading and flanking them would protect them.
“Don’t worry, you are safe now,” he told them. “These guys will protect you.”
Ominous signs of a joyous event suddenly turning to horror filled both sides of Central Avenue where the shooting occurred. Dozens of baby strollers, some bearing American flags, abandoned children’s bicycles and a helmet adorned with images of Cinderella were left behind. Blankets, lawn chairs, coffee and water bottles were knocked over as people fled.
Highland Park is a close-knit community of about 30,000 people located on the shores of Lake Michigan, just north of Chicago, with mansions and sprawling lakeside estates that have long attracted the rich and sometimes the famous. including NBA legend Michael Jordan, who lived in the city for years when he played for the Chicago Bulls. John Hughes filmed parts of several movies in the city, including “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” “Sixteen Candles,” and “Weird Science.”
Governor of Illinois J. B. Pritzker said in a statement: “There are no words for the kind of monster that stalks and shoots into a crowd of families with children celebrating a holiday with their community.”
A 4th of July parade attendee runs for cover after gunshots are heard at the parade, on July 4, 2022, in a Chicago suburb. (Lynn Sweet/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)
Gina Troiani and her son were lined up with her kindergarten class ready to walk down the parade route when she heard a loud sound that she thought was fireworks, until she heard people yelling about a shooter. In a video Troiani recorded on her phone, some of the children are visibly startled by the loud noise and pull over to the side of the road as a siren sounds nearby.
“We started running in the opposite direction,” he told The Associated Press.
Her 5-year-old son rode his bicycle decorated with curly red and blue ribbons. He and other children in the group held small American flags. The city said on its website that the festivities would include a children’s bike and pet parade.
Troiani said she pushed her son’s bike, running through the neighborhood to get back to her car.
“It was kind of chaotic,” he said. “There were people who were separated from their families, looking for them. Others just dropped their cars, grabbed their children and started running.”
Highland Park resident Debbie Glickman said she was in a parade float with her co-workers and the group was preparing to turn onto the main road when she saw people running from the area.
“People started saying, ‘There’s a shooter, there’s a shooter, there’s a shooter,'” Glickman told the AP. “So we just ran. We just ran. It’s like massive chaos down there.”
He did not hear any noise or see anyone who appeared to be injured.
“I’m so scared,” she said. “It’s so sad”.
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Foody contributed from Chicago. Associated Press writers Mike Balsamo in New York, David Koenig in Dallas, Jeff Martin in Woodstock, Georgia, and Fabiola Sánchez in Monterrey, Mexico contributed to this report.
