Gunshots rained down from a rooftop onto a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Ill., killing six and injuring dozens. Celebrations were called off across the region amid fears of more violence.
HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. — A 22-year-old man was taken into custody on Monday evening after someone opened fire from a rooftop into a Fourth of July parade in suburban Highland Park, killing at least six people and sending three dozen more to the hospital with injuries.
Chief Lou Jogmen of the Highland Park Police said that Robert E. Crimo III, who had been identified as “a person of interest” in the shooting, had been spotted in a car by a North Chicago police unit. When the police tried to stop him, Mr. Crimo fled, leading officers on a brief chase, Chief Jogmen said.
Aleks Macys, 53, said she felt exhausted on Monday night after having driven a woman who had been shot in the head to the hospital. Macys said she was replaying one sound in her mind. It was the voice of the woman’s daughter, who had cried in the backseat and said in disbelief, “Mommy has been shot.”
The authorities in Highland Park, Ill., said they had recovered a high-powered rifle after the mass shooting during the community’s Fourth of July parade. It was the state’s third mass shooting since Friday.
Illinois has the sixth strictest gun-safety laws in the country, and the ninth-lowest rate of gun ownership, according to Everytown for Gun Safety, a leading gun control advocacy group. The state has universal background checks, red flag warnings and safe storage requirements, though no assault weapons ban.
