Newsman: A deadly attack on a Chicago-area July Fourth celebration killed six people injuring dozens more and sent hundreds fleeing in terror. Officials say a person of interest in the July Fourth mass shooting has been taken into custody.
Five of the six victims in the attack were adults who died at the scene, Lake County Coroner Jennifer Banek said at an earlier briefing. All five have been identified, and families are now being notified.The sixth victim died at a local hospital. No additional information was provided.
Highland Park Fire Chief Joe Schrage said a child who had been critically injured is among the roughly two dozen people taken to local hospitals. Some of the injuries include gunshot wounds to the abdomen and limbs.
President Joe Biden, who less than 10 days ago signed a bipartisan gun safety bill, issued a statement hours after the attack.
“Jill and I are shocked by the senseless gun violence that has yet again brought grief to an American community on this Independence Day.”
He noted that the new law “includes actions that will save lives.”
Illinois Gov. J. B. Pritzker called for prayer in the wake of the “the evil unleashed this morning” but added that prayers alone would not address the problem of gun violence in the country.
“There are no words for the kind of monster who lies in wait and fires into a crowd of families with children celebrating a holiday with their community. There are no words for the kind of evil that robs our neighbors of their hopes, their dreams, their futures,” Pritzker said in a statement.
“We must — and we will — end this plague of gun violence.”
The gunman opened fire on a Fourth of July parade in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park on Monday morning. the shooter began firing at about 10:14 a.m authorities said. The shooter used a high-powered rifle, which is now being investigated by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and was on the roof of a business. Perched on a rooftop in a sniper style attack the killer left the community in lockdown and the greater Chicago area on high alert as the gunman remained on the loose for hours.
The gunman had turned the parade route filled with families into a “battle zone’’ within seconds — picking off the innocent Independence Day revelers with a “high-powered rifle” pumping out rapid-fire shots shortly after 10 a.m., authorities said.
By evening, police had identified a “person of interest” in the shooting — 22-year-old local Robert E. Crimo III. He was spotted driving a silver Honda Fit in north Chicago hours after the attack. When an officer tried to “initiate a traffic stop,” Crimo attempted to flee, Highland Park Police Chief Lou Jogmen said in a briefing Monday evening.
“A brief pursuit went on,” but ultimately Crimo gave himself up, Jogmen said, adding that he was “taken into custody without incident.”
Jogmen said the investigation is moving quickly and noted that Crimo will be questioned by investigators at the department “to make sure or see if, in fact, he is connected to this incident.”
Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering said: “Our hearts go out to the families of the victims at this devastating time. On a day that we came together to celebrate community and freedom, we are instead mourning the tragic loss of life and struggling with the terror that was brought upon us.”
