Highland Park, an Illinois suburb, is in ruin after yet another mass shooting. It happened at a parade to celebrate the nation’s birth. A shooter with a high powered rifle shot six people dead and wound more than 30 others including children.
Parade-goers initially believed the shots were fireworks. Witnesses say that people started to fall from the streets in bloody heaps, and a stampede broke out.
Five adults died on the parade route Monday and another perished in a nearby hospital, according to Lake County Coroner Jennifer Banek.Â
Great-grandfather Nicolas Toledo, 76, was sitting in his wheelchair with his family when the shooting started. According to his family, a relative tried protecting him, but he was killed on the street. Toledo, who held dual citizenship, lived most of his adult life in Mexico and had just returned home to Highland Park with his family.
“It’s an enormous pain,” his granddaughter, Alba Toledo, 23, told USA Today. “Believe me, my grandfather was a great person, with an enormous heart.”
Their family claims that a preschool teacher and her husband were gunned down in front their children. Her father, Stephen Kolpack, Zoe Kolpack, and her brother were all wounded when the gunman opened firing. A GoFundMe campaign has been established to help with medical costs.Â
“They are all in the hospital undergoing various surgeries, which will seriously impact these families financially,”The organizer wrote. “I do not want this to be another burden on them as they will have many obstacles to go through in the months ahead.”
A total of 26 patients ranging in age from 8 to 85 were taken to Highland Park Hospital, said Dr. Brigham Temple, medical director of the NorthShore University Health System. He stated that at least four of the patients were children.
Police said that more than 30 people were hurt.
After receiving treatment, nineteen were released.
Robert was identified by authorities “Bobby”E. Crimo III was the suspected shooter. On Monday, the 21-year old was identified for the first time as a person-of-interest.
Crimo, who was armed with a powerful rifle, allegedly climbed a fire escape ladder to reach the roof of a building and fired at the crowd below. He fired more than 70 rounds before climbing down and blending into those on the street by wearing women’s clothing and fleeing in the chaos, Covelli said.Â
Covelli claimed that Crimo borrowed his mother’s car and went to her house after the shootings. He said that a citizen called 911 to report the sighting of Crimo driving a Honda. Covelli stated that Crimo was taken into custody without any incident Monday night.
Officials said that he is likely to face charges Tuesday in connection to the shootings.
The suspected gunman is an aspirant rapper who calls himself “The Gunman” “Awake the Rapper”Officials claimed that the two had posted music videos on social networking platforms. Authorities said that some of the videos contained bloody violence, including an image with an automatic rifle and a stick man.
The postings “reflected a plan and a desire to commit carnage for a long time in advance,” Mayor Nancy Rotering said in an interview Tuesday with NBC’s “Today” show.
“And it’s one of those things where you step back and you say, what happened?”She said. “How did somebody become this angry and hateful to then take it out on innocent people who literally were just having a family day out?”
She stated that she knew the suspect from her time as a Cub Scout leader.
“Many years ago, he was just a little boy, a quiet little boy that I knew,”CNN spoke with her. The mayor said his mug shot, showing him with multiple tattoos, was particularly haunting.
“It breaks my heart. I see this picture and through the tattoos, I see the little boy,”She said. “I don’t know what got him to this point.”
The mayor stated that the suspect had legally purchased the rifle in Illinois. However such weapons are illegal within the city.
“I’m furious because it does not have to be this way,” said Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker at a Monday press conference, as officials called for tougher gun control laws. President Joe Biden joined that chorus, saying, “I won’t give up on fighting the epidemic of gun violence.” in a White House statement.
Chicago Sun-Times reporter Lynn Sweet was attending the parade with her family on her day off. She later filed a story about what she saw.
“I was just going to the parade to have fun. Spend time with friends. Perhaps you can go to the North Shore suburb’s beautiful beaches and enjoy the parade. Perhaps you want to take a dip in the Highland Park pool right next to the fire department. That fire station transformed into an emergency operations center after the unimaginable — is this a cliché? — happened.
“In a matter of seconds, a sniper — using a high-powered, rapid-fire weapon — Six people were killed, and many others were wounded. as the parade made its way down Central Avenue in downtown Highland Park,” Sweet wrote.
Paul A. Crimo the uncle of the suspect said that he was “heartbroken”His nephew was one of the suspects in the attack. “There were no signs that I saw that would make him do this,”He spoke to CNN.
According to his uncle, the young man lived in an apartment in Highwood, Illinois. It was attached to his father’s house. According to him, he saw his nephew last Sunday evening while sitting in a recliner at his house and engrossed in his computer.
“Everything was as normal,”He spoke to the cable network.
Monday’s shooting carnage followed high-profile mass shootings in New York and Texas, and as outrage built over the police killing of 25-year-old Jayland Walker in Akron, Ohio, last week.
Highland Park’s shooting was not the only incident of gun violence on July 4.
Two officers from Philadelphia were wounded in gunfire that erupted at Independence Day festivities. After popping sounds ricocheted through crowd, people fled for their lives.
Authorities stated that they have not identified any suspects in this case.
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