Shooting at Independence Day parade in Illinois: 6 dead, dozens injured

Robert E. Crimo III, a suspect in the July 4 parade mass shooting in Highland Park that killed six people and sent more than two dozen to hospitals, has been taken into custody near Lake Forest, Illinois, reports CNN.

Photo: Shutterstock

Authorities said Crimo was spotted by a North Chicago officer who was trying to stop the traffic. Crimo gave a short chase before being stopped. He was taken into custody without incident and will be transferred to the Highland Park police station where the shooting had taken place earlier on July 4.

Earlier, when law enforcement searched for Crimo, the police called him a "person of interest" and the FBI said, "He is wanted for his alleged involvement in the shooting of several people at the Independence Day parade in Highland Park, Illinois."

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The capture ended an intense manhunt in the Chicagoland area.

The shooting in Highland Park, about 40 kilometers north of Chicago, began shortly after 10 a.m. Central Time, as parade participants enjoyed the Fourth of July procession on Central Avenue.

According to police commander Chris O'Neill, traces of firearms were found on the roof of a building near the shooting site. According to Christopher Covelli, a spokesman for the Lake County Major Crime Task Force, the shooter used a ladder attached to a building on an alley wall to reach the roof.

The weapon was a "powerful rifle" and the attack appeared to be "premeditated," Covelli said.

According to Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives spokesman Kim Nerheim, authorities are working to trace the firearms to find out who bought them and where they came from.

Covelli told reporters that SWAT members and other officers evacuated people from buildings within a certain firing radius.

Lake County Coroner Jennifer Banek said the five people who died at the scene were adults. According to her, one person died in the hospital, but she has no more information about this victim.

Highland Park Fire Chief Joe Shrage said his department took 23 people to hospitals, while others were taken in police cars or by passers-by's personal vehicles.

A total of 26 patients have been admitted to Highland Park Hospital, according to Dr. Brigham Temple, Medical Director of Health at North Shore University. Patients ranged in age from 8 to 85, Temple said, with four or five being children. He said that 19 of the 25 victims of gunshot wounds received medical attention and were discharged. He added that there were gunshot wounds to the extremities as well as more central parts of the body.

The shooting sent hundreds of marchers on the run and prompted a strong police response from local, state, federal and including the FBI. On the afternoon of July 4, heavily armed officers patrolled the streets of Highland Park, while others stood on rooftops with sniper rifles.

Zoe Pavelczak, who attended the Independence Day parade with her father, said attendees at the parade first thought the many explosions were fireworks for the occasion.

“And I thought something was wrong. I grabbed my father and ran. Suddenly everyone behind us started running,” she said. “I looked back and a couple of meters away from me I saw a girl who had been shot.”

They hid behind a trash can for about an hour, she said, until police took them to a sporting goods store and then eventually escorted them back to their car. According to her, she saw one man who was shot in the ear, and his whole face was covered in blood, and another girl with a shot in the leg.

“It was like a war zone and it's disgusting. It's really disgusting," she said.

The incident marks at least the 308th mass shooting in the US this year, according to data compiled by the Gun Violence Archive, a non-profit organization that tracks such incidents. The organization defines a mass shooting as the shooting of four or more people, not counting the shooter.

There were 11 mass shootings in the first four days of July, including three on July 4 alone in Richmond, Virginia; Chicago and Highland Park, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

This massacre continues an already bloody American spring and summer, including the racist attack of an 18-year-old in a New York supermarket that killed 10 people, and the shooting of another 18-year-old at a Texas school that left 19 students and two teachers died.

In the aftermath of these massacres, President Joe Biden signed the first major federal gun safety law in decades just nine days ago, marking a significant bipartisan breakthrough on one of Washington's most contentious political issues.

Eyewitnesses say shots were the cause of the stampede

Witnesses at the scene said the peaceful parade was disrupted by the sudden sound of gunfire and the ensuing chaos.

Miles Zaremsky said he heard what he believed to be 20 to 30 shots fired in two consecutive bursts at about 10:20 am CT, shortly after the parade began. He said he saw several bloody people lying on the ground and described the scene as complete chaos.

Aerial video shows abandoned overturned garden chairs along the parade route amid a large police presence.

Warren Freed, who attended the parade with his wife and 7-year-old twins, said he saw police and an ambulance drive past him at the parade and then heard a series of gunshots. People started yelling "shooter" and "run" and he and his family ran to their car for safety.

“People were hiding, children were looking for their parents in the streets, everyone was just in a state of shock,” he said.

US Rep. Brad Schneider, a Democrat who represents the area, said he had just arrived in Highland Park when the shots rang out and he was told to leave.

“Everyone fled. When I was there, I came across a group of small children who were trying to call their parents to tell them they were okay,” he said. “So I stopped and invited them to use my phone.” There were a lot of cars driving there, so I helped direct the traffic a little.”

Jeff Leon, 57, said the shots sounded like "crackers in a trash can" and it wasn't until he saw the cops' reaction that he realized something had happened.

“The police started to respond and I saw several people fall down,” Leon said.

José Alamar, an employee at a nearby gas station, said about 20 people ran into the gas station and took cover after the shooting started.

The Highland Park suburb has about 30 residents and a per capita income of about $000, nearly three times the US average, according to US Census data.

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The parade was scheduled to start at 10:00 CET at the intersection of Laurel Street and St. John's Avenue and was to move north on St. John's Avenue and then west on Central Avenue and continue to Sunset Park as city ​​officials said.

Neighboring suburbs, including Deerfield and Evanston, canceled their 4 July parades after the shooting. Events in other nearby communities have been cancelled. The Chicago White Sox will hold a minute of silence before the home game, and the fireworks display after the game has been cancelled.

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