HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. (AP) — A gunman on a rooftop opened fire at an Independence Day parade in suburban Chicago on Monday, killing at least six people, injuring at least 30 and sending hundreds of marchers, parents with strollers and children bikes fleeing in terror, police said.
Authorities said a man named as a person of interest in the shooting was taken into custody by police Monday night after an hours-long manhunt in and around Highland Park, an affluent community of about 30,000 people on Chicago’s North Shore.
The July 4th shooting was the latest to disrupt the rituals of American life. Schools, churches, grocery stores, and now public parades have all become killing grounds in recent months. This time, the bloodshed came as the nation tried to find a reason to celebrate its founding and the bonds that still hold it together.
“It definitely hits a lot harder when it’s not only your hometown, but it’s right in front of you,” resident Ron Tuazon said as he and a friend walked back to the parade route Monday night to pick up chairs, blankets and a children’s bicycle that he and his family left behind when the shooting began.
“Now it’s commonplace,” Tuazon said of what he called another American atrocity. “We don’t blink anymore. Until the laws change, everything will always be the same.
The shooting happened at a spot along the parade route where many residents staked out prime viewing spots early in the day for the annual celebration. Dozens of bullets fired sent hundreds of parade-goers – some visibly bloodied – fleeing. They left a trail of abandoned objects that indicate daily life suddenly, violently interrupted: A half-eaten bag of potato chips; a box of chocolate biscuits spilled on the grass; Chicago Cubs Kids Hat.
“There’s no safe place,” said Highland Park resident Barbara Hart, 73, who had stayed away from the parade fearing a mass shooting but later ventured out of her home.
Highland Park Police Chief Lou Jogman said an officer stopped Robert E. Crimo III about five miles north of the shooting scene, hours after police released a photo of the man and an image of his silver Honda Fit and warned the public that he was possibly armed and dangerous. Authorities initially said he was 22 years old, but an FBI bulletin and Crimo social media said he was 21 years old.
Police declined to immediately identify Crimo as a suspect, but said identifying him as a person of interest and sharing his name and other information publicly was a big step.
Lake County Major Crimes 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 where she died. The police did not release details about the victims or the injured.
Lake County Coroner Jennifer Banek said the five people killed at the parade were adults, but there was no word on the sixth victim, who was taken to a hospital and died there. One of those killed was Mexican, Roberto Velasco, Mexico’s director of North American affairs, said on Twitter on Monday. He said two other Mexicans were wounded.
NorthShore University Health Center admitted 26 patients after the attack. All but one had gunshot wounds, said Dr. Brigham Temple, medical director of the emergency preparedness department. Their ages range from 8 to 85, and Temple estimates that four or five patients are children.
Temple said 19 of them were treated and discharged. Others were transferred to other hospitals, while two patients in stable condition remained at Highland Park Hospital.
“It is devastating that America’s holiday has been torn apart by our uniquely American plague,” Illinois Governor JB Pritzker said at a press conference.
“I’m furious because it shouldn’t be this way … while we only celebrate the Fourth of July once a year, mass shootings have become a weekly — yes, weekly — American tradition.”
The gunman opened fire about 10:15 a.m., when the parade was about three-quarters of the way through, authorities said.
Highland Park Police Chief Chris O’Neill, the incident commander at the scene, said the gunman apparently used a “high-powered rifle” to fire from a spot on top of a commercial building where he was “very difficult to see.” He said the rifle was recovered at the scene. Police also found a ladder attached to the building.
“A very accidental, very intentional and a very sad day,” Covelli said.
President Joe Biden on Monday said he and first lady Jill Biden were “shocked by the senseless gun violence that has once again brought grief to the American community this Independence Day.”
Biden signed the most sweeping gun violence bill passed by Congress in decades, a compromise that showed both progress on a long-simmering issue and the deep-seated partisan divide that persists.
As word of the arrest spread, residents who had been huddled inside their homes began to come outside, some walking toward the scene of the shooting. Several people stood staring at the scene, with abandoned picnic blankets, hundreds of chairs and backpacks still where they were when the shooting began.
Police believe there was only one shooter, but warned he should still be considered armed and dangerous. Several nearby cities canceled events, including parades and fireworks, with some noting that the Highland Park shooter was still at large. The Chicago White Sox also announced on Twitter that a planned postgame fireworks show had been canceled due to the shooting.
More than 100 law enforcement officers were called to the parade scene or dispatched to find the suspected shooter.
More than a dozen police officers surrounded a home listed as Crimo’s address in Highland Park on Monday. Some officers held rifles as they set their sights on the home. Police blocked roads leading to the home in a tree-lined neighborhood near a golf course, allowing only select law enforcement vehicles through the narrow outer perimeter.
Crimo, who goes by the name Bobby, was an aspiring rapper under the stage name Awake the Rapper, posting dozens of videos and songs, some gruesome and violent, on social media.
In one animated video, since taken down from YouTube, Crimo raps about armies “walking in the dark,” as a drawing of a man pointing a rifle, a body on the ground, and another figure with raised arms in the distance appears. A later shot shows a close-up of a crate pouring blood and another of arriving police cars as the gunman holds his hands up.
In another video, in which Crimo appears in a classroom wearing a black bicycle helmet, he says he’s “like a sleepwalker… I know what I’ve got to do,” before adding, It all led to this. Nothing can stop me, not even myself.”
Crimo’s father, Bob, a longtime deli owner, ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Highland Park in 2019, calling himself “a man for the people.”
Highland Park is a close-knit community of about 30,000 located on the shores of Lake Michigan, north of Chicago, with mansions and sprawling waterfront estates that have long attracted the rich and sometimes famous, including NBA legend Michael Jordan, who lived in town for years old when he played for the Chicago Bulls. John Hughes filmed parts of several films in the city, including Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Sixteen Candles and Weird Science.
Ominous signs of a joyous event suddenly turned to horror filled both sides of Central Avenue where the shooting took place. Dozens of baby carriages – some with American flags, abandoned children’s bicycles and a helmet emblazoned with images of Cinderella were left behind. Blankets, lawn chairs, coffees and water bottles were knocked over as people fled.
Gina Troianni and her son were lined up with his 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 for a shooter. In a video Troyani shot on his phone, some of the children are visibly startled by the loud noise and scurry off to the side of the road as sirens blare nearby.
“We just start running in the opposite direction,” she told The Associated Press.
Her 5-year-old son was riding his bike, decorated with red and blue curled ribbons. He and other children in the group held small American flags. The city said on its website that the festivities will include a children’s bike and pet parade.
Troianni said she pushed her son’s bike, running through the neighborhood to get back to their car.
“It was kind of chaos,” she said. “There were people who got separated from their families and were looking for them. Others simply dropped their vans, grabbed their children and started running.
Highland Park resident Debbie Glickman said she was at the parade with colleagues 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 AP. “So we just ran away. We were just running. It’s like mass chaos down there.
She didn’t hear any noises and didn’t see anyone who looked injured.
“I’m so scared,” she said. “It’s just so sad.”
___
Foody contributed from Chicago. Associated Press writers Mike Balsamo in New York, David Koenig in Dallas, Jeff Martin in Woodstock, Ga., Fabiola Sanchez in Monterrey, Mexico, Jim Mustian in New Orleans, Bernard Condon in New York and Martha Irvine and Mike Householder in Highland Park contributed reporting.
Add Comment