Highland Park Police Chief Lou Jogmen said officers located 22-year-old Robert E. Krimo III less than an hour after he was named a person of interest. A short police chase took place before Crimo was finally stopped and arrested without incident. Officials still need to interview Crimo before they can name him as a suspect in the shooting and file charges against him, officials said. “This individual is believed to be responsible for what happened,” Lake County Task Force spokesman Chris Covelli told reporters, but added that police “still have work to do” before confirming Crimo’s involvement. The shooting happened about 15 minutes after the 10 a.m. start of the holiday parade in the quiet suburb, with the gunman targeting spectators from the roof of a business with a high-powered rifle, police said. Story continues below ad 0:46 Police name person of interest in Illinois 4th of July parade shooting Police name person of interest in Illinois 4th of July parade shooting Covelli said the shooting was “very random” and “very intentional” and the suspect was discreet and difficult to see. The rifle was recovered from the roof and an investigation is currently underway. Police did not have a motive for the shooting. The gunman reached the roof via a ladder attached to the building that was not secure, officials said. Authorities released this photo of Highland Park, Illinois person of interest, Robert “Bobby” E. Crime III pic.twitter.com/H3JGMOOcny — Philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) July 4, 2022 Story continues below ad More than 100 police officers spent the afternoon searching for the suspect with the help of FBI and SWAT teams. Buildings and businesses in the area were cleared and residents were told to evacuate. More than a dozen police officers on Monday surrounded a home listed as Crimo’s address in Highland Park. Some officers held rifles as they fixed their sights on the house. Police blocked off roads leading to the home in a tree-lined neighborhood near a golf course, allowing only select law enforcement cars to pass through a narrow outer perimeter. Law enforcement investigate as they enter a building after a mass shooting at the Highland Park Fourth of July parade in downtown Highland Park, a suburb of Chicago on Monday, July 4, 2022. AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh Crimo, who goes by the name Bobby, was an aspiring rapper under the stage name Awake the Rapper, posting dozens of videos and songs on social media, some ominous and violent. In an animated video captured by 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 hands up in the distance appears. A later frame shows a close-up of a chest with blood pouring out and another of police cars arriving as the attacker holds his hands up. Story continues below ad 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 have to do,” then adds: 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 of the people.” Trending Stories
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0:40 Crowd flees after shooting at Illinois 4th of July parade Crowd flees after shooting at Illinois 4th of July parade
Twenty-six patients were sent to Highland Park Hospital with gunshot wounds, according to Dr. Bringham Temple, NorthShore University Health Center’s medical director of emergency preparedness. They range in age from eight to 85, he said, and include four or five children. Some are in critical condition, including a child, and 19 have been treated and released. Five of the dead were adults who died at the scene, while another of an unknown age was taken to a hospital where he died, according to Lake County Coroner Jennifer Banek. Authorities are in the process of notifying their families. Story continues below ad At least one of the dead was a Mexican national, a senior Mexican foreign ministry official said on Twitter. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted that his “heart breaks for the people of Highland Park, Illinois, who wanted nothing more than to celebrate their country this morning – but instead had their lives changed forever.” “To the injured and loved ones of the victims: Canadians keep you in our thoughts,” he said. US President Joe Biden said in a statement that he has offered the full support of the federal government to the affected communities and has “challenged federal law enforcement to assist in the urgent search for the perpetrator.” 1:23 Police respond to ‘active’ shooting at Illinois Independence Day parade Police respond to ‘active’ shooting at Illinois Independence Day parade Mayor Mary R. Rotering said the community was “horrified by an act of violence that has shaken us to our core.” Story continues below ad “Our hearts go out to the families of the victims at this devastating time. On a day we gathered to celebrate community and freedom, we instead mourn the tragic loss of life and grapple with the terror inflicted upon us,” he said. The Chicago White Sox went ahead with their game against the Minnesota Twins after talking to Major League Baseball about postponing it. The postgame fireworks show was canceled and a minute’s silence was observed before first pitch. “Our hearts go out to the Highland Park community,” the White Sox said in a statement. 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 lakeside estates, the quaint American suburb has been featured in movies like Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and was once home to NBA star Michael Jordan when he played for the Chicago Bulls. It is nearly 90 percent white, but about a third of the population is Jewish, according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Empty chairs sit along the sidewalk after marchers fled the Highland Park Fourth of July parade following a shooting, Monday, July 4, 2022, in Chicago. Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Chicago Sun-Times via AP Gina Troiani and her son were about to walk the parade route Monday when she heard a loud sound that she thought were fireworks until others said there was a shooter, she told The Associated Press. Story continues below ad “We’re just starting to run in the opposite direction,” he said. “It was just chaos… There were people separated from their families, looking for them. Others just dropped their wagons, grabbed their children and started running.” The video shows footage being played as the parade was underway with hundreds of people in attendance.
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A U.S. representative for Illinois, Brad Snyder, tweeted that he was at the parade when the shooting began and that he and his team are safe and sound. The US has experienced a number of mass shootings recently, including one at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, that killed 19, and another at a supermarket in a predominantly black neighborhood in Buffalo, New York, that killed 10. Snyder said in his message that he is committed to making communities safer and “enough is enough,” and Biden added that there is still work to be done. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said Monday that mass shootings have become a “weekly American tradition.” “This madness must stop.” Police from several local municipalities, including Illinois State Police, investigate in downtown Highland Park after a mass shooting at the Fourth of July parade Monday, July 4, 2022, in Chicago. Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Chicago Sun-Times via AP The shooting is likely to reignite the American debate over gun control and whether stricter measures can prevent the country’s increasingly frequent mass shootings. Story continues below ad After the Uvalde and Buffalo shootings, Congress last month passed its first major federal gun reform in three decades, providing federal funding to states that administer “red flag” laws aimed at removing guns from people deemed dangerously. It doesn’t ban sales of assault rifles or high-capacity magazines, but it does take some measures for background checks, allowing access to information about major crimes committed by minors. — with files from The Associated Press and Reuters © 2022 Global News, a division of Corus…
