Passers-by initially thought the sound of gunfire that pierced the sun-drenched parade shortly after 10 a.m. CT along Main Avenue in the city, about 25 miles north of Chicago, were fireworks, until hundreds of attendees began fleeing in terror — abandoning carts, chairs and American-flag paraphernalia littering the streets. “It looked like a combat zone and it’s disgusting. It’s really disgusting,” said Zoe Pawelczak, who attended the Independence Day parade with her father. The carnage marks an already bloody American spring and summer — in the past 186 days, there have been more than 300 mass shootings in the US, according to data compiled by the Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit that tracks such incidents. “There are no words for the kind of evil that shows up at a public celebration of freedom, hides on a rooftop and shoots innocent people with an assault rifle,” said Illinois Governor JB Pritzker. “It’s devastating that an American holiday was torn down by our only American plague.” Police arrested the suspect near Lake Forest, Illinois, after an intense manhunt in the Chicagoland area. He was arrested after a short chase by officers before he was stopped. Evidence of firearms was found on the roof of a business near the shooting, Police Chief Chris O’Neill said Monday. The gunman used a ladder attached to the wall of the building from an alley to gain access to the roof, said Christopher Covelli, a spokesman for the Lake County Major Crimes Task Force. Police said they are investigating who bought the gun and where it came from. Among the six people killed, five adults died at the scene and one at the hospital, according to Lake County Coroner Jennifer Banek. The age of the sixth victim is not yet clear. A total of 26 patients were admitted to Highland Park Hospital, said Dr. Brigham Temple, medical director of NorthShore University Health System. The injured ranged in age from 8 to 85 — four or five patients were children, Temple said. He said 19 of the 25 gunshot victims were treated and released. There were gunshot wounds to the extremities as well as more central parts of the bodies, he added.
“More must be done”
Last year was the worst year on record since the Gun Violence Archive began tracking mass shootings in 2014. There were a total of 692 mass shootings in the U.S. in 2021, the nonprofit says. The Highland Park attack comes on the heels of several recent mass shootings that have shocked the nation, including an 18-year-old’s racist attack at a New York supermarket that killed 10 and another 18-year-old’s shooting at a Texas school that left 19 students and two teachers dead. dead. In the wake of those massacres, President Joe Biden signed into law the first major federal gun safety legislation in decades, marking a major bipartisan breakthrough on one of Washington’s most contentious policy issues. Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin said during a visit to Highland Park late Monday that more needs to be done on gun laws. “There is no reason for a person to own a military assault weapon. It has no value for hunting, sporting or even self-defense,” he said. “It’s a killing machine.”
What do we know about the suspect?
Lake County Major Crime Task Force spokesman Covelli said law enforcement officials “processed a significant amount of digital evidence,” which helped investigators identify Crimo as a suspect. “This individual is believed to be responsible for what happened and the investigation will continue. Charges have not yet been approved at this time — and we are a long way from that,” he said. Crimo, who calls himself “Awake the Rapper,” has posted online music videos to several major streaming outlets and a personal website, some of which feature animated scenes of gun violence. In a video titled “Are you Awake”, a cartoon animation of a stick shooter – similar to Crimo’s appearance – in tactical gear is shown carrying out an attack with a rifle. Crimo is seen narrating, “I have to. It’s my destiny.” The suspect’s uncle, Paul A. Crimo, told CNN he spoke extensively with law enforcement on Monday and described his nephew as a “lonely, quiet person.” He said he does not know his nephew’s political views, although he described him as active on YouTube. His brother, who is the suspect’s father, previously ran for mayor. “I’m so heartbroken for all the families that lost their lives,” Paul Crimo said.
Horror stories
Witnesses told stories of sheer horror after the shooting in the affluent Chicago suburb. Miles Zaremski said he heard what he believed to be about 20 to 30 gunshots, in two bursts of gunfire, at about 10:20 a.m. CT, shortly after the parade begins. He told CNN he saw many people covered in blood and on the ground and described the scene as chaotic. Zoe Pawelczak, who attended the Independence Day parade with her father, said marchers initially thought the line of pops were fireworks, given the occasion. “And I was like, something’s wrong. I grabbed my dad and started running. All of a sudden everyone behind us started running,” she said. “I looked back probably 20 feet away. I saw a girl shot and killed.” Jeff Leon and his wife were about to watch their 14-year-old twin boys parade with their high school football team when shots rang out. “We’re going to try to get them,” Leon said. They then saw a man “who had an apparent extremely deep bullet wound to the right side of his head above the temple.” Leon said he heard maybe 20 or 30 shots before he looked to his right and saw police traffic and people falling. Steve Tilken told CNN he had taken refuge in a store basement with his wife, her two grandchildren and dozens of others as police searched the area for the gunman. “We were sitting ducks right there and a bullet could go through all of our bodies,” he said. Joe Sutton, Shawn Nottingham, Chuck Johnston, Curt Devine, Eric Levenson, Claudia Dominguez, Melissa Alonso, Brynn Gingras, Steve Almasy, Jeff Winter, Yahya Abou-Ghazala, David Williams, and Jason Hanna contributed to this report.
