Highland Park Mass Shooting Live Updates: Six People Killed in 4th of July Parade, Suspect Apprehended!
Police have arrested a 22-year-old person of interest in connection with a mass shooting at a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, on Monday.
Officials say that six people were killed and about 24 were seriously hurt in the shooting.
Police said they caught Robert “Bobby” Crime III after an hour-long manhunt and a car chase on Monday night.
— Lake County Sheriff (@LakeCoILSheriff) July 4, 2022
Police say it looks like the shooter fired from a roof, where a high-powered rifle was found.
Police say that the shooting was an “act of violence that happened for no reason.”
Shortly after the police released a photo of Crime and his car, they said a North Chicago police unit saw the person of interest driving a car that looked like the one they were looking for.
Authorities say that after a traffic stop, the driver took off and led police on a short chase. Police say that he turned himself in at the corner of U.S. Highway 41 and Westleigh Road in Lake Forest, Illinois.
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Ryan Lerman, who works as a delivery driver, was near the intersection when the arrest happened, and he filmed it. He told WLS, an ABC station in Chicago, that he knew the car right away from the police bulletins.
“Right away he was surrounded by the police,” he told the station. “They came from either side of the highway to surround him.”
The video showed officers with guns coming up to the car, pointing them at the driver, and telling him to get out. People saw the driver put his hands in the air.
“In the end, he got down on his knees and the police took him away,” Lerman said. “It was so strange that I had no idea what I was seeing.”
The arrest was the end of a busy day that started with a popular parade in the area.
Authorities say that the shooting happened about three-quarters of the way through the parade. People ran away in fear, leaving behind empty strollers, chairs that were turned over, and sandwiches that were only half-eaten.
Lake County Sheriff Deputy Chief Christopher Covelli said at a news conference that when the police ran toward the shots, the gunman had already left.
Lake County Coroner Jennifer Banek said that five adults died at the scene, and a sixth person died at a hospital.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mexico says that one of the people who died was a Mexican citizen.
The NorthShore University Health System said that it has 31 patients. Most of them were hurt by gunshots, but a few others were hurt in the chaos. Highland Park Fire Chief Joe Schrage said that at least one child is in very bad shape.
Zoe Nicole Pawelczak was at the parade when shots were fired. She grabbed her dad and started running through the crowd.
“All the people are crying. We finally got around the corner and hid behind a dumpster. This man was there with his two very young children, and he put them in the dumpster for safety “she told me.
Pawelczak told her that the man wanted to go find his other son and asked her to watch the two kids in the dumpster while he went.
“So I watched his kids for him,” she said. “They were like, ‘What’s going on?’ And I was like, ‘It’s just fireworks, it’s OK,’ just trying to keep them calm.”
When the gunfire started, Dr. David Baum was watching his grandson, daughter, and son-in-law march in the parade.
Baum said of some of the victims, “Bodies were horribly, horribly, horribly hurt by guns and bullets that were made for war, not for parades.”
“The paramedics got there quickly and checked out the damage. They saw bodies that had been blown apart and quickly put a blanket over them. “He tried to help himself, and then he tried to help other people,” he told ABC News. “These wounds are terrible and no one should have to see them.”
Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Illinois, was at the parade and wrote on Twitter that he’s making a promise “to do everything I can to keep our kids, our towns, and our country safe. Enough already!”
Police want anyone who was at the parade to look at their videos and give them to the police.
A law enforcement source says that agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives are on the scene and are doing an urgent trace on the gun that was found.
Evanston police said that after the shooting, the nearby suburb of Evanston canceled its own Fourth of July parade.
President Joe Biden said in a statement that he “surged Federal law enforcement to assist in the urgent search for the shooter.”
“Community members should listen to what local leaders say, and I will keep a close eye on the situation as we learn more about those who have died and pray for those who are in the hospital with serious injuries,” Biden said.
He said that he recently signed into law the most important gun control bill in decades and added, “But there is much more work to do, and I’m not going to give up fighting the epidemic of gun violence.”
In a statement, Vice President Kamala Harris said, “On a day when family and friends should be celebrating, we are mourning the lives lost in another act of senseless gun violence.”
She said, “There should be more done to stop gun violence in our country.” “President Biden just signed into law the first major bipartisan gun reform bill in almost 30 years, and we will keep fighting to stop this senseless violence.”
In a passionate speech, Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois said, “There are no words for the kind of monster who hides and then shoots into a crowd of families with kids who are out celebrating a holiday with their community. There are no words for the kind of evil that takes away the hopes, dreams, and futures of our neighbors.”
The governor wrote, “Prayers alone won’t stop the terror of rampant gun violence in our country.” “We have to stop this plague of gun violence, and we will.”
Representatives of the gun reform group March For Our Lives, which was started by students who survived the 2018 high school shooting in Parkland, Florida, said in a statement, “Just three weeks ago, young people organized a March For Our Lives in Highland Park, along with communities across the country.”
They said, “We are saddened by the terrible loss of life in Highland Park and the damage done by a high-powered rifle.” “We wish those who were killed eternal peace, and we will fight like hell for those who are still alive.”
Gov. Phil Murphy of New Jersey is one of the leaders who have spoken out about the latest mass shooting in the United States “Even a parade celebrating our country’s independence on the Fourth of July isn’t safe from the widespread gun violence in our country. Tomorrow, I will sign into law seven gun safety bills that make sense and cover a lot of ground. We can’t stand it!”
The Chicago White Sox said they will have a moment of silence before Monday night’s game against the Minnesota Twins and will not have fireworks after the game.
Police have been worried for a long time about gunmen shooting from high places, which police say gives them a strategic advantage.
The deadliest example of that is the 2017 Las Vegas massacre, during which the shooter took up a window position in the Mandalay Bay hotel. Fifty-nine people were killed in what became the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
