CHICAGO — A gunman opened fire on the Highland Park Independence Day parade, killing at least six people and wounding more than two dozen others in the latest mass shooting incident to terrorize an American community.
A person of interest had been identified late Monday afternoon, according to Highland Park police Chief Lou Jogman. Authorities were searching for Robert “Bobby” Crimo III, 22, believed to be driving a 2010 silver Honda Fit with license plate No. DM80653.
Officials said Crimo was allegedly the shooter who earlier had been described as a white man between 18 to 20 years old with long black hair, who was last seen wearing a white or blue shirt, and who reportedly opened fire from a rooftop with a high-powered rifle and targeted spectators, according to police. He remained at large as of Monday afternoon.
Highland Park Fire Chief Joe Schrage said at least one child was among the wounded and he was taken to an area hospital in critical condition. Schrage did not know the child’s age.
Highland Park is an idyllic suburb nearly 30 miles north of downtown Chicago bordering Lake Michigan. In 1998, Vanity Fair said the largely white and Jewish suburb “has the feel of a gated community without the actual gates.” Michael Jordan made his home there for a time when he was with the Bulls.
Video from the scene showed the chaos that unfolded Monday morning: Parents sat on the curb of the parade route enjoying the marching band when the young musicians suddenly started running, the instruments they had carefully worked to master held in front of them as they sprinted for their lives. Families rushed away from the parade route, leaving hundreds of empty lawn chairs, strollers, drinks and balloons behind. Children left bicycles, helmets and pacifiers.
More than two dozen people were injured at least six of them fatally shot, about 15 minutes into the northern suburb’s Fourth of July parade, according to police and the Lake County sheriff’s office.
The shooter, who police said began firing from a nearby rooftop, had not been caught or identified as of Monday afternoon, and the area around the parade route remained an active crime scene, according to Lake County Deputy Sheriff Chris Covelli. He urged people to stay in their homes and be careful.
“This person is not identified. By all means, at this point, this appears to be completely random,” Covelli said.
Highland Park police were called to the parade route in the area of Central Avenue and Second Street around 10:15 a.m. for a report of an active shooter, ”while an Independence Day Parade was in progress,” according to a statement from police.
At least 16 people had been shot, officials confirmed. However, an area hospital said it was treating at least 26 people for injuries suffered during the attack; it did not directly say all 26 had suffered gunshot wounds. Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering said 24 people were sent to local hospitals but again she did not confirm all 24 had been shot. Authorities later said “approximately two dozen (people) were injured.”
Police said the gunman “began randomly shooting parade spectators from a rooftop while the parade was in progress.”
The Lake County Major Crime Task Force, Highland Park police and the FBI are leading the investigation, but “there are dozens of police agencies on the scene and our federal partners are deployed as well,” according to police.
There also “is a family/friends reunification site” at the Highland Park Police Department, 1677 Old Deerfield Road, officials said.
Highland Park resident Eric Trotter described the violence that unfolded: a series of gunshots that at first sounded like fireworks, then a rush to escape. Trotter returned to the scene later, where he saw people helping the wounded and searching for family.
Highland Park police Cmdr. Chris O’Neill called on business owners and members of the public to turn over security footage that might help them find the shooter.
From their position near the parade route’s start, Anita Koenitz-Hudac and her family heard about 20 shots about five minutes after it kicked off.
They ran to their car, abandoning their camp chairs and blanket. They were able to drive home, where Koenitz-Hudac and her husband spent Monday afternoon trying to distract their 3-year-old and 5-year-old sons from what had happened.
“It’s one of those things that you don’t think is going to happen in your town or the town where you live,” said Koenitz-Hudac, of Highwood. “I think the thing that gets me is families go to parades, kids go to parades.”
Carrie Mangoubi was at the parade with her three young children and niece when the shooting started. First, she saw the marching band break away from the route and sprint down the street, followed shortly by fire trucks and police cruisers speeding down the road.
Mangoubi, of Northbrook, said her heart was still pounding out of her chest several hours after the shooting. Mangoubi’s family moved from the city to the north suburbs in recent years, thinking it would be a safer place to raise their family. Her children were frightened.
“We just explained to them, ‘There’s a bad guy with a gun and we have to run to keep you safe,’” Mangoubi said. “How do you explain this to young children?”
Jack Steward barricaded himself for two hours at the New Balance shoe store he works in, about 100 feet from where he thought the shooting occurred. He was stocking shelves in the back when he heard at least 20 gunshots.
“This is one of the (safest) communities,” the 27-year-old said. “It’s insane you can witness something like this coming to work.”
Shane Selieg, 29, was on a street corner nearby when the tragedy started. He had volunteered to work the holiday as a medic but didn’t expect to see the violence that unfolded. Selieg performed CPR on a gunshot victim, he said, and his leg was covered in blood.
“A lot of shooting. A lot of panic. A lot of fear,” he said, describing the massacre.
In the shooting’s immediate aftermath, dozens of police vehicles filled the streets and officers stood on businesses’ roofs wielding rifles and standing watch.
Nearby towns canceled their festivities as Metra halted inbound and outbound train movement near Highland Park because of the shooting. Just before noon, Glencoe canceled its Independence Day Parade and sent a text to residents telling them to remain home because the active shooter was still at large.
People filtered in and out of a Highland Park municipal building designated as a family reunification center Monday afternoon.
Some brought coolers of food, boxes of donuts and water and Gatorade while others sought information about family or friends.
At least three people reported they were there for news of family or friends, or other information about the shooting, but declined to speak further.
Among those coming to the reunification center was Jonathan Birnberg, still dressed in a flag-patterned shirt. Birnberg walked into the municipal building to speak with police because he and his family were concerned about returning home with the shooter at large.
They live near the parade route, have sheds in their backyard and weren’t sure if they locked their doors, he said. Understably, he said, police may be too busy to check their home so they may wait longer before returning.
“It’s very scary," Birnberg said.
Birnberg was at the parade when he heard gunshots, though he said many people first thought, or hoped, that it was fireworks.
Then, everyone scattered, and he said he was initially separated from family members. Friends and neighbors, though, scooped up any kids they could find, he said.
Birnberg first sheltered in a coffee shop but later went to a friend's house, where he has remained for several hours.
President Joe Biden commented on the shooting Monday afternoon and said after speaking with Gov. J.B. Pritzker he offered the full support of the federal government.
“I also surged Federal law enforcement to assist in the urgent search for the shooter, who remains at large at this time,” according to Biden’s statement.
He also said he was “shocked by the senseless gun violence that has yet again brought grief to an American community on this Independence Day.” He then touted his recent signing of “the first major bipartisan gun reform legislation in almost 30 years into law, which includes actions that will save lives. But there is much more work to do, and I’m not going to give up fighting the epidemic of gun violence.”
Police in Highland Park redirected traffic away from the eerily quiet parade route about two hours after the shooting. A military-style police vehicle rode outside of NorthShore Highland Park Hospital, where many of the shooting victims were taken for treatment.
Security at the hospital directed reporters away from the emergency room entrance. One security staffer told a reporter the hospital was on lockdown.
Gabriela Martinez-Vicencio, of neighboring Highwood, was at the parade with her 9-year-old daughter to meet up with other family members when the shots rang out roughly 15 to 20 minutes into the parade. She said she and a relative thought initially the blasts were fireworks.
”I just fell to the ground and then my daughter hugged, I guess, my nephew and my niece and then as soon as I was able to reconnect myself I grabbed my daughter because I started screaming out for everybody’s name that I saw and then we ran,” Martinez-Vicencio, 33, said outside of NorthShore Highland Park Hospital, where she was told her niece was being treated for a minor injury after possibly scraping her leg while running away from the gunfire.
“I started crying. We all started crying. Fear. Anger.”
Martinez-Vicencio also said she “bumped into a (woman) and we both fell into the ground. And I grabbed her head because I didn’t want her head to hit the pavement.” Martinez-Vicencio said she pushed her daughter into a nearby store, where she tried to hide her 9-year-old in a room. ”We’re just waiting for everything to calm down. And then she came back out,” Martinez-Vicencio said.
On Monday morning, Pritzker left a parade he’d been attending in Hyde Park on Chicago’s South Side, according to sources who were there. According to a post on his Twitter page, Pritzker and his staff were “closely monitoring the situation in Highland Park.”
Illinois State Police also were responding, Pritzker said, adding: “We will continue working with local officials to help those affected.” Roads were blocked for approximately 1 mile surrounding the shooting scene.
Peter Kontonis of Highland Park was driving to the parade to meet his family and was approaching the parade route when he saw hundreds of people running.
“It was chaotic. At that point I started calling my family to try to find them and eventually found out they had sheltered inside a building near the route,” Kontonis said. “And so I met up with some of my friends, we picked up some people we knew, because we wanted to make sure they had a ride, and we got out of there.”
Video from the scene showed the chaos that unfolded in the peaceful North Shore suburb. Parents sat on the curb of the parade route enjoying the marching band when the musicians suddenly started running, the instruments they had carefully worked to master held in front of them as they ran for their lives. Families rushed away from the parade route, leaving behind hundreds of empty lawn chairs, strollers, drinks and balloons.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider said he was at the parade with his campaign team when the shooting started.
“Hearing of loss of life and others injured. My condolences to the family and loved ones; my prayers for the injured and for my community; and my commitment to do everything I can to make our children, our towns, our nation safer,” Schneider tweeted. “Enough is enough!"
According to a post on the village of Deerfield’s page, the municipality canceled its parade and celebration as a result of the shooting in Highland Park. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot released a statement calling the incident “devastating.” Republican gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey tweeted a call for a special legislative session on crime.
“We must call a special session to address crime on our streets. We need to demand law and order and prosecute criminals,” Bailey said. “We need more police on our streets to keep our families safe. Public safety must be a top priority.” He notably did not mention gun control.
Highland Park was the setting of a large gathering in support of gun control on June 11. The March for Our Lives rally was one of hundreds that took place across the country with the goal of pushing legislators to take bipartisan action on the matter.
Less than a decade ago, Highland Park found itself at the center of the national gun control debate.
Pediatrician Arie S. Friedman, along with the Illinois State Rifle Association, claimed in court that Highland Park’s 2013 ban on assault weapons violated Friedman’s right to use his semi-automatic weapons to protect his home and family.
The case made its way to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled the ordinance could remain on the books.
”A ban on assault weapons and large‐capacity magazines might not prevent shootings in Highland Park (where they are already rare), but it may reduce the carnage if a mass shooting occurs,” the court wrote.
Gun rights advocates were unsuccessful in getting the U.S. Supreme Court to take up the case. But in a 2015 dissent, Justices Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia said they would in fact have heard the case, saying the 7th Circuit’s decision upholding the ban “flouts two of our Second Amendment precedents.”
Just this year, the current iteration of the Supreme Court made a ruling that limited the way states could restrict concealed carry of guns outside the home; the ruling led legal observers to speculate that it would be harder for lower courts to uphold local regulations on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.
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