Earlier, as law enforcement searched for Crimo, police had labeled him a “person of interest” and the FBI said: “He is wanted for his alleged involvement in the shooting of several people at an Independence Day parade in Highland Park in Illinois.” The arrest ended an intense manhunt across the Chicagoland area after the shooting upended Independence Day celebrations in cities across the region. Evidence of firearms was found on the roof of a business near the shooting, Police Chief Chris O’Neill said earlier. The gunman used a ladder attached to the building on a wall in an alley to gain access to the roof, said Christopher Covelli, a spokesman for the Lake County Major Crimes Task Force. The weapon was a “high-powered rifle” and the attack appeared “random” and “deliberate,” Coveli said. Authorities are working to locate the firearm to learn who bought it and where it came from, according to Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives spokesman Kim Nerheim. Covelli told reporters that SWAT members and other officers were removing people from buildings within a certain radius of the shooting. Lake County Coroner Jennifer Banek said the five people who died at the scene were adults. One person died at a hospital, he said, but he had no further information on that victim. Highland Park Fire Chief Joe Schrage said his department transported 23 people to hospitals and other victims were transported by police cars or bystanders’ personal vehicles. A total of 26 patients were admitted to Highland Park Hospital, according to Dr. Brigham Temple, the medical director of NorthShore University Health System. The patients ranged in age from 8 to 85 — four or five were children, according to Temple. 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. The shooting sent hundreds of bystanders fleeing and prompted a large police response from local, state and federal officers, including the FBI. Heavily armed officers patrolled the streets of Highland Park on Monday afternoon and others were posted on rooftops with sniper rifles. 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.” They hid behind a dumpster for about an hour until police took them to a sporting goods store and then eventually escorted them back to their car, he said. He saw one person who had been shot in the ear and had blood all over his face and another girl who had been shot in the leg, he said. “It looked like a war zone and it’s disgusting. It’s really disgusting,” he said. The incident marks at least the 308th mass killing in the U.S. this year, according to data compiled by the Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit that tracks such incidents. The organization defines a mass shooting as one involving four or more people shot, not including the shooter. There were 11 mass shootings in the first four days of July, including three on July 4 alone, in Richmond, Virginia. Chicago and Highland Park, according to the Gun Violence Archive. The carnage marks an already bloody American spring and summer, including an 18-year-old racist attack in a New York supermarket that killed 10 and another 18-year-old shooting at a Texas school that left 19 students and two teachers dead. In the wake of these massacres, President Joe Biden just nine days ago 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.
Witnesses say the shooting caused a commotion
Eyewitnesses who spoke to CNN described a peaceful march that broke through the sudden ring of gunfire and chaos that followed. 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. Video taken by a witness, Hugo Aguilera, showed an ambulance turning on the parade route and a police car with sirens blaring as people gathered on the grassy sidewalk. Aerial video from CNN affiliate WLS shows abandoned lawn chairs up and down the parade route amid a heavy police presence. Warren Fried, who attended the parade with his wife and 7-year-old twins, said he watched police and an ambulance drive past him in the parade and then heard a series of gunshots. People started yelling “shooter” and “run” and he and his family fled to their car for safety. “People were hiding, children were in the streets looking for their parents, just in shock,” he said. U.S. Rep. Brad Snyder, a Democrat who represents the area, told CNN he was just getting to Highland Park when the shots rang out and he was told to pull over. “Everyone scattered and ran. As I was walking around, I came across a group of little kids trying to call their parents to say they were OK,” he said. “So I stopped and suggested they use my phone. There were a lot of cars moving so I helped direct traffic for a while.” Jeff Leon, 57, told CNN that the gunshots sounded like “firecrackers in a dumpster,” and as soon as he saw officers reacting, he knew whatever had happened. “The police started to react and I saw some people fall,” Leon said. “We just took off. And, you know, we’d hide behind cars, fold into the next car and go on our way.” Jose Alamar, an employee at a nearby gas station, said about 20 people ran into the gas station and took cover after the shooting began. The suburb of Highland Park has a population of about 30,000 and a per capita income of about $90,000, nearly three times the U.S. average, according to U.S. Census data. The July 4 parade was expected to include floats, marching bands, novelty groups, community participation and other special entertainment, the city said on its website. It was scheduled to start at 10am. CT at the intersection of Laurel and St. Johns and was going to head north on St. Johns and then west on Central Avenue and continue to Sunset Park, the city said. Nearby suburbs, including Deerfield and Evanston, canceled their Fourth of July parades after the shooting. Events in other nearby communities were canceled. The Chicago White Sox will observe a minute of silence before their home game, but have stopped the postgame fireworks display. CNN’s Chuck Johnston, Caroll Alvarado, Dakin Andone, Victor Blackwell, Sara Weisfeldt, Melissa Alonso, Michelle Krupa, Mark Morales, Linh Tran and Claudia Dominguez contributed to this report.
