A 22-year-old man identified as a person of interest in a shooting during an Independence Day parade in suburban Chicago that killed at least six people, wounded at least 30 and sent hundreds of people fleeing was taken into custody Monday evening following an hourslong manhunt, police said.
Highland Park Police Chief Lou Jogmen said Monday evening that a police officer briefly chased Robert E. Crimo III as he drove about five miles north of where the shooting occurred before the man pulled over and was taken into custody.
Police declined to immediately identify Crimo as a suspect but said identifying him as a person of interest, sharing his name and other information publicly was a serious step.
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The July 4 shooting was just the latest to shatter the rituals of American life. Schools, churches, grocery stores and now community parades have all become killing grounds in recent months. This time, the bloodshed came as the nation tried to find cause to celebrate its founding and the bonds that still hold it together.
“It is devastating that a celebration of America was ripped apart by our uniquely American plague,” Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said at a news conference.
“I’m furious because it does not have to be this way… while we celebrate the Fourth of July just once a year, mass shootings have become a weekly — yes, weekly — American tradition.”
The shooting occurred at a spot on the parade route where many residents had staked out prime viewing points early in the day for the annual celebration. Dozens of fired bullets sent hundreds of parade-goers — some visibly bloodied — fleeing. They left a trail of abandoned items that showed everyday life suddenly, violently disrupted: A half-eaten bag of potato chips; a box of chocolate cookies spilled onto the grass; a child’s Chicago Cubs cap.
“There’s no safe place,” said Highland Park resident Barbara Harte, 73, who had stayed away from the parade fearing a mass shooting, but later ventured from her home.
Lake County Major Crime Task Force spokesman Christopher Covelli said at a news conference “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 wounded.
Lake County Coroner Jennifer Banek said the five people killed at the parade were adults, but didn’t have information on the sixth victim who was taken to a hospital and died there. One of those killed was a Mexican national, Roberto Velasco, Mexico’s director for North American affairs, said on Twitter Monday. He said two other Mexicans were wounded.
NorthShore University Health Center received 26 patients after the attack. All but one had gunshot wounds, said Dr. Brigham Temple, medical director of emergency preparedness. Their ages ranged from 8 to 85, and Temple estimated that four or five patients were children.
Temple said 19 of them were treated and discharged. Others were transferred to other hospitals, while two patients, in stable condition, remained at the Highland Park hospital.
The shooter opened fire around 10:15 a.m., when the parade was about three-quarters through, authorities said.
Highland Park Police Commander Chris O’Neill, the incident commander on scene, said the gunman apparently used a “high-powered rifle” to fire from a spot atop 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.
“Very random, 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 yet again brought grief to an American community on this Independence Day.” He said he had “surged Federal law enforcement to assist in the urgent search for the shooter, who remains at large at this time.”
Biden signed the widest-ranging gun violence bill passed by Congress in decades, a compromise that showed at once 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, some of them noting that the Highland Park shooter was still at large. Evanston, Deerfield, Skokie, Waukegan and Glencoe canceled events. The Chicago White Sox also announced on Twitter that a planned post-game fireworks show is 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 on Monday evening surrounded a home listed as an address for Crimo in Highland Park. Some officers held rifles as they fixed their eyes on the home. A large armored truck, marked “Police Rescue Vehicle,” occupied the middle of the road near the residence. Police blockaded roads leading to the home in a tree-lined neighborhood near a golf course, allowing only select law enforcement cars through a tight outer perimeter.
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 drawn the rich and sometimes 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.”
Pritzker, a Democrat, promised support for the community as well as to bring gunman to justice.
“There are no words for the kind of evil that shows up at a public celebration of freedom, hides on a roof and shoots innocent people with an assault rifle,” Pritzker said.
Ominous signs of a joyous event suddenly turned to horror filled both sides of Central Avenue where the shooting occurred. Dozens of baby strollers — some bearing American flags, abandoned children’s bikes and a helmet bedecked with images of Cinderella were left behind. Blankets, lawn chairs, coffees and water bottles were knocked over as people fled.
Gina Troiani and her son were lined up with his daycare class ready to walk onto the parade route when she heard a loud sound that she believed was fireworks — until she heard people yell about a shooter. In a video that Troiani shot on her phone, some of the kids are visibly startled at the loud noise, and they scramble to the side of the road as a siren wails 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 were to include a children’s bike and pet parade.
Troiani said she pushed her son’s bike, running through the neighborhood to get back to their car.
“It was just sort of chaos,” she said. “There were people that got separated from their families, looking for them. Others just dropped their wagons, grabbed their kids and started running.”
Debbie Glickman, a Highland Park resident, said she was on a parade float with coworkers and the group was preparing to turn onto the main route 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 mass chaos down there.”
She didn’t hear any noises or see anyone who appeared to be injured.
“I’m so freaked out,” she said. “It’s just so sad.”
(AP)
18 Responses
Perfect Headline, SICKO.
came “as the nation tried to find cause to celebrate its founding and the bonds that still hold it together.”
What OBNOXIOUS framing!
Welcome to America
Of course the solution, or one solution to this, is more access to guns. Of course the founding fathers would have wanted more guns. More guns.
HE IS THE FACE OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY
Rav Avigdor Miller said (may his memory be blessed), “you are what you see”.
This animal must have been watching all types of murder videos online.
Our brilliant government decided that it is 100% okay to download or upload every single type of movie or video in the world. We never say “no”. The internet is all yours. Do as your heart desires.
When the internet first started, only the US army had permission to go online. I guess things changed.
The problem isnt the gun, its in the brain of the person who is holding the gun.
Very sad.
But why do you have a very badly photoshopped image of him in a cell? Fake images help nothing.
sorry for the free advertising of YWNs competitor but i could agree more with avraham and for my full response see matzav under anonymous (ywn you dont need to print this if you dont want to).
well as America becomes more woke, more liberal, more atheist and less moral and less ethical, we do see these terrible events happening.
Run away from God, become LBTQ, chase personal pleasure and this is the end result.
It doesn’t surprise me that a LGBTQIA+ “community” member or sympathizer is mentally ill and would do this. Then again Mayor Blackfoot sets a horrible example.
screen name correction: “ill-annoyed” in america
Ban Guns!!!
He looks loco in the cabeisa
please take away the pictures they are giving me nightmares
he looks like …………….. a REAL DEMOCRATIC ITIOT
WHY DO OUR KIDS HAVE TO SEE HIM
The problem isnt the gun, its in the brain of the person who is holding the gun.
DONT WORRY THEY WILL LET HIM GO FREE
BECAUSE HE DID NOT STEP INTO THE CAPITOL ON JAN. 6
@The Real Truth: If you don’t want your kids to see pictures of democrats, idiots, or criminals – maybe you should stop letting them browse YWN. I can help you find some nice websites with Jewish kids videos.
(Unless you are a kid yourself, then you should get off the news and kiss the mezuza before going to sleep, it might help your nightmares. Also, what’s the obsession with caps?)
Someone should ax Mayor Lori Lightweight: If black lives really matter why is this story getting wall to wall coverage but the 50-100 blacks shot every weekend in Chicago never gets any coverage?