CHICAGO-
Police are responding to a shooting at a Fourth of July parade in a Chicago suburb, authorities said Monday. No casualties have been officially reported, but witnesses described seeing bloodied bodies covered in blankets as hundreds of people ran for safety.
The Chicago Sun-Times reported that the parade began around 10 a.m. but came to an abrupt halt 10 minutes after gunshots were heard. A Sun-Times reporter saw blankets placed over three bloodied bodies. Several witnesses told the newspaper that they heard gunshots.
Hundreds of parade goers, some visibly bloodied, fled the parade route, leaving behind chairs, strollers and blankets.
The police told people, “Everyone please spread out. It’s not safe to be here.”
Video shot by a Sun-Times reporter after the shots rang out shows a band on a float continuing to play as people run past, screaming. A photo posted on social media appeared to show pools of blood near overturned chairs in downtown Highland Park.
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.
“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.
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.
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 kids and started running.”
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker said in a tweet that he is “closely monitoring the situation in Highland Park” and that the Illinois State Police are helping.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office said on Twitter that it is assisting Highland Park Police “with a shooting in the area of the Independence Day parade route.” The sheriff’s office directed an AP reporter to contact Highland Park police. The Police Department said no one was immediately available to discuss the incident.
Highland Park resident Debbie Glickman said she was on a parade float with her co-workers and the group was preparing to turn onto the main route when she saw people fleeing the area.
“People started saying, ‘There’s a shooter, there’s a shooter, there’s a shooter,'” Glickman told the Associated Press. “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”.