There was a mass shooting at a 4th of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois

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On the Fourth of July, there was another mass shooting in America. This one happened in Highland Park, Illinois. Highland Park is a wealthy, predominantly white suburb about 30 minutes outside of Chicago. As Highland Park residents gathered to watch their Independence Day parade, shots rang out. I’ve watched some of the videos and it sounded like he used high-capacity magazines. Six people are dead, dozens are wounded. Highland Park police arrested the white shooter without harming him.

More than eight hours after firing a “high-powered rifle” from a rooftop onto a crowd attending Highland Park’s Fourth of July parade, killing six people and wounding dozens in one of the worst mass shootings in Illinois history, a gunman suspected of causing the carnage was pulled over peacefully on U.S. 41 in Lake Forest.

At 6:45 p.m. Monday, the Highland Park police said a “person of interest” — identified as Robert E. “Bobby” Crimo III, 22 — had been “taken into custody without incident” on U.S. 41 at Westleigh Road in Lake Forest. The arrest came after he was spotted by a North Chicago police officer and following a short chase. Crimo was taken to the Highland Park police station, police Chief Lou Jogmen said.

Christopher Covelli of the Lake County sheriff’s office and the Lake County major crimes task force said authorities were using the terms “suspect” and “person of interest” interchangeably. As of 9 p.m., no charges had been filed, and the police gave no indication of what the motive for the shootings might have been.

Stacy Shaulman, a lifelong Highland Park resident, was among a few dozen people who gathered outside the police station to await Crimo’s arrival.

“It’s been a horrific day,” Shaulman said. “I’m glad they got him. And, unfortunately, he’s a Highland Park kid, and people knew his family. His family has been around a long time.”

The shooter used “a high-powered rifle” that has been recovered, said Covelli, who said the gunman fired from a rooftop. “He was very discreet and very difficult to see.” He called the crime “very random, very intentional.”

[From The Chicago Sun Times]

Crimo is 22 years old and he was apparently already known to local authorities. NBC News’ headline is that Crimo “left an online trail of violent imagery.” That is true, but he also left an online trail of being a Donald Trump supporter. He attended MAGA rallies, literally wrapped himself in MAGA flags and is generally the kind of violent psycho drawn to a fascist madman.

It’s the guns. It’s white supremacy, toxic masculinity and the guns. Little kids in the parade were running for their lives. Dozens of people in the hospital, six dead, all because a psycho had access to guns and decided to shoot up a parade.

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Photos courtesy of Getty.

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84 Responses to “There was a mass shooting at a 4th of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois”

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  1. Noki says:

    America and guns,when will this madness be taken more seriously!?

    • Tiffany:) says:

      Yes, and when will the right accept that their “Good Guy With a Gun” savior fantasy is never going to happen?

      There were tons of officers on scene for the parade itself, and yet they couldn’t prevent someone from shooting 30 people. They gun-rights extremists have hinged our safety on their fiction, and they need to own the fact that they are clearly wrong.

      • Sue says:

        The right, the ones in political power, know that theory is BS. They don’t care. They get money from the gun lobby to stay in power in exchange for doing nothing while Americans get slaughtered on a regular basis. Money and power is all they care about.

    • Barbiem says:

      Im about 15minutes from highland Park. My sister who lives in Chicago wanted to go to a nice suburb for the 4th of July with her grandkids. Scared to go down town because of violence. Im so glad they decided to go to Navy pier. This is awful tragedy

  2. ThatsNotOkay says:

    Funny how no charges had been filed as of the printing of that article, and yet, run from a traffic stop and not only are you found guilty of everything on the spot, you are executed for it.

    • SA says:

      I’m seeing people say Highland Park was just “typical Chicago”.
      Michael Jordan lived there, Home Alone, 16 Candles & Ferris Buehler were all filmed in Highland Park. Even if you’ve never been there you know this place. It’s the wealthy Americana idyllic suburb.

      Meanwhile, Darren Bailey GOP, Trump backed candidate for IL Gov. Gave a statement hours after the shooting to “move on and celebrate the day”. He is also raffling off an assault weapon as part of his fund raising.

      Everything hurts today.

      • AT says:

        I lived in Chicago from 2014-19 and my husbands from there, most of Chicago isn’t what’s described as “typical Chicago”. That’s designated to part of a specific neighborhood on the south side. Most of Chicago is pretty idyllic and my friends/coworkers and I always thought reactions to us living there were so bizarre, it’s kind of crazy what the media can make people think.

      • Erin says:

        @at- we lived in the suburbs for 10 years before moving to the red state next door not far from Chicago (we are planning on moving back in the next two years) but I’ve had the same thing happen lately and from surprising people. We’ve obviously been to and around Chicago a lot but over Memorial Day weekend we traveled somewhere that had us go through dwtn chi to get there and my parents, who also grew up around the Chicago area but now live in the south, were saying that we were brave to drive through there during the day and that they wouldn’t do that. Like, what???? What are you taking about? They literally think it’s a war zone and you are just going to get shot or car jacked or held up just driving through in the middle of the day. I told them that was insane and it’s not like that at all and they need to turn off effin Faux news and am radio because I know that’s where they are getting this crap. It just blew my mind that my own parents who grew up around here would think like that now.

      • LW says:

        Darren Bailey is an awful, ignorant candidate. Illinois currently has a great Governor and I hope he mops the floor with Bailey in November.

      • SA says:

        Erin, I get those comments as well. On the regular I bike through downtown Chicago from my sisters place just west of the Loop. It’s our favorite way to get around the city and explore wonderful things I cannot always find when driving.
        As a 5ft tall, 55 year old woman I would hardly call myself brave for doing this!

      • Erin says:

        @SA, it’s ridiculous right? I’m like, have you even been to Chicago lately? No? And you’re going to believe some propaganda over your own daughter as to how it really is? It’s so sad to me and shows you how ready and willing people are to believe this crap.

        I’m glad you enjoy biking around dwtn and have the opportunity too. It’s so fun to find little hidden gems that aren’t on the main roads. I have a child that goes to Lurie so on the way we take LSD and I always envy the people that get to bike/walk/run right next to the lake in the mornings.

    • Snickles says:

      Sounds about white…

  3. SarahCS says:

    I don’t live in the US so apologies if I’ve missed something here but it seems to be that if you’re pulled over for some minor traffic issue (and black) you get shot but if you murder a number of people and get pulled over (and you’re white) they bring you in calmly?

    I’m sorry, I know sarcasm is inappropriate here but I’m struggling to make sense of yet more murder on top of everything else that is happening in the world at the moment.

    • GR says:

      @sarahcs – unfortunately you’re correct.

    • LisaC says:

      I do live in the US, and I’m sad to say that I also struggle with the same thing. If you’re black and commit a trivial crime, or sometimes no crime at all, you get shot in the back while unarmed or pinned to the ground til you suffocate. If you’re white and shoot a bunch of people, you’re taken into custody alive, and in the case of that little dipshit Kyle Rittenhouse, taken to get a burger. Shaking my damn head!

    • Lucy says:

      Happens almost every day…literally.

    • Lolo86lf says:

      Sadly you are correct. As soon as I read “suspect is in custody” I know he is white.

    • Maite says:

      Yes, sadly to say this is true. I tried to help an abandoned dog on my next door neighbors lawn and was arrested for trespassing, almost shot, and had to spend the night in jail. I lost a job because I had a criminal record for it. And I’m white. Imagine if it was a person of color.
      The system here is so broken. I am ready to leave.

      • SarahCS says:

        Oh my goodness! That’s crazy! In Europe we’ve had something of a stereotype/perception for years that laws in the US are often weird and unreasonable (everyone suing everyone else, going to prison for 30 years for being present when someone else commits a crime, etc.) but the more we learn the more real that seems (it’s far from perfect here but seems much less extreme). I’m so sorry to hear what you’ve been through.

    • NorthStar says:

      I didn’t even register sarcasm, because what you’re saying is how it works.

    • Cee says:

      I recommend you watch the film “Emergency”, it’s available on Prime Video. It depicts what you just said – 3 college seniors (2 black, 1 brown) find an unconscious white woman passed out in their college house and they have to figure out how to help her without ending up dead themselves. It was eye opening to everyone who doesn’t live their reality.

    • Blithe says:

      Yes, this is true. Many police officers quite literally get away with murder. Abuses that fall short of murder often aren’t even reported to the public. It’s worth pointing out, too, that this is nothing new. What’s changed is that thanks to cell phones, at least some of these incidents get recorded and become public, in ways that have to be officially addressed.

  4. Miranda says:

    Seems like an apropos way to celebrate the 4th of July. What could possibly be more American than a mass shooting? It’s basically our national pastime at this point.

  5. Em says:

    I am so ashamed of this country. How did it get so bad?

    • loras says:

      It got bad because this country has been taken over by a right winged minority.There were some Evangelicals at a party I was at yesterday expressing how this shooter was probably a CIA or FBI plant by the left wing to pass gun legislation.Yes this is where we are folks

  6. Tootsie McJingle says:

    I’m scared to send my kids to summer camp this morning. I live 15 minutes from Highland Park. They caught the shooter 5 minutes from my in laws house. I was just at my own towns parade with 3 of my kids watching the 4th one on Saturday. This is the closest to home it’s ever been. We stayed home yesterday with the door locked because he was still on the loose for hours after the shooting. They cancelled all 4th of July activities including fireworks in my town and most of the surrounding towns, yet plenty of my neighbors were still shooting off tons of fireworks. It was so nerve wracking. I wasn’t even there and I can’t imagine what the people who were there or who, god forbid, lost someone, are going through. We can’t live like this.

    • Alice says:

      I’m sorry. i was thinking about people like you yesterday, during the hours he was loose. a nightmare and I’m sorry you had to go thru that.

    • Erin says:

      I’m so sorry, I would feel the same exact way. I actually always feel like that these days which is why we don’t go out much which feels so unfair to my kids but what can I do? We can’t trust the elected officials to try and protect us because it’s clear they have no interest in anything other than taking rights away from certain groups of people. I live in a red county and red state and am surrounded by gun loving maga nuts and we have had our eye on moving to Evanston for a while for various reasons but one being that we thought it would be safer than here and now? I just can’t believe we are here and people are ok with living this way. My goal is getting my kids to get out of this country as soon as they can to make a life elsewhere because this country is in free fall.

    • Malificent says:

      I live in Colorado, 20 minutes from Columbine and 20 minutes in the other direction from the Aurora theater shooting. But I’m from Chicago and am here visiting my family for the holiday. Ironically, my kid likes to come here to see fireworks because they are often canceled in Colorado on the 4th because of dry conditions. This year they were canceled because another messed up kid, who had telegraphed his intentions, had access to high-powered weapons.

      There is no escaping it. My son is 15 years old and he’s been through twice as many active shooter drills as tornado drills.

      • Moxylady says:

        Holy shit. Same exact location. But husband is from Naperville area. I’m from WI. We moved here three weeks before the Boulder grocery store massacre.

    • Mary Tosti says:

      I live in a different state and decided to not take my kids to see the fireworks. Because you never know and with how things are going in this country, compounded with what happened there, I didn’t want to take a chance. Sad that we have to think this way.

  7. Lucy says:

    I’m so tired of hearing about FREEDOM when you can be shot any time, any place, for any reason and the govt says ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. They want us living in terror.

    • equality says:

      Really. What about somebody’s freedom to go to a public event and not be shot? Shouldn’t we be guaranteed that freedom?

    • Tiffany:) says:

      “They want us living in terror.”

      Yes, exactly. They want us to be so scared that we think the only way to survive is if WE get guns.

      • Alice says:

        Interesting Tiffany. I have been flirting what that idea lately. I feel that these are terrorist cells, and nobody wants to name them. By nobody I mean nobody in power. And they are seeded all throughout the country. When they go to steal the 24 election, they are going to let loose on us. I also think this will happen in individual states in the coming Nov election. so yeah, i have been thinking about getting a gun and learning how to use it.

      • Lucy says:

        Unless you’re BIPOC or LGBTQ+ of course. They absolutely *don’t* want everyone to have guns. They want us to live in constant fear about those who do. It’s about control and white supremacy.

      • Alice says:

        Yes it’s about control and white supremacy, I agree. But it is only natural to be afraid. I don’t want to be a sitting duck when they send the death squads. I want to at least take a few with me.

      • Tiffany:) says:

        Sadly, Lucy, I do think they want POC to have guns, so they have excuses for police violence against them. It is very bleak.

        Alice, I don’t blame you for wanting to have a weapon, because it does feel like we are headed to civil war. I do think that is their intention, though, to use our fear to enrich those who profit from the gun industry.

  8. Lara (the other) says:

    I don’t know, if you can influence your google adverts, but here in Germany I get an ad for kids paintball embedded. The google algorithm seems to work terribly wrong with the article.

  9. Eowyn says:

    I’ve been told here is a large Jewish population in this predominantly white suburb. I suspect this shooter targeted the area for this reason.

  10. Athena says:

    Young black men pulled over for random traffic stop are executed on the spot yet young white men committing mass killings are captured alive without incident.
    America remove your head from the sand, take your hands away from your ears and open your eyes, we are self-destructing.

    • North of Boston says:

      And the white killer was referred to as “very discreet” a phrase that would never be used to describe a black suspect.

      Also, there is nothing “discreet” about shooting a high powered rifle into a crowd of people at a parade.

  11. girl_ninja says:

    This country is a prison of hatred, violence and oppression. This is not freedom.

  12. JanetDR says:

    Thank you for covering this Kaiser. I could not being myself to watch the news yesterday.

  13. Mama says:

    Oh but don’t you know he is ANTIFA in disguise at Trump rallies? He is a liberal and he is most certainly not a Trump supporter.

    I am so tired of QAnon and Trump people being unable to reason, see and understand a basic fact. It is exhausting.

  14. Flowerlake says:

    I know several people who wanted to visit the US for sightseeing, but no longer want to.
    It just seems too dangerous and random. Can’t imagine what it must be like to live there.
    Feel very sorry for the American people having to deal with this 🙁

    In some countries with dangerous zones, at least you know where not to go, but this type of thing seems to happen anywhere. Especially in places that are good (schools, happy things like celebrations, cinemas, clubs etc).

    • Yup, Me says:

      Yep – basically all the places white males go.

      • Naye in va says:

        Very few places white males aren’t welcome so… anywhere

      • bettyrose says:

        @Naye that’s it exactly. White males feel entitled to enter all spaces in this country, including that one a few years ago who entered a Black church and prayed with the parishioners before murdering them. I think he even said he almost didn’t because they were so warm and welcoming. Profiling white men, restricting their movements as we’ve done with other demographic groups is not going to happen, nor should it. Profiling isn’t the answer. A ban on high capacity weapons is the answer.

  15. Lens says:

    I was struck by what a resident of highland park said, I don’t know where I saw it, Daily Mail maybe? He said “that doesn’t happen here”, I suppose because it’s predominantly white, upper middle class. You live in the United States of America so that means it “happens here” and there’s no escaping it anywhere you live. It’s out of control.

    • Mama says:

      They always say that… it is no longer true. It happens everywhere.

    • CC says:

      The quote I read went “that doesn’t happen here. It shouldn’t happen anywhere.”

      • equality says:

        I think Kimberly Rubio said it well in the hearings about Uvalde: “Somewhere out there, a mom is hearing our testimony and thinking to herself, ‘I can’t even imagine their pain,’ not knowing that our reality will one day be hers — unless we act now.”

    • Betina says:

      I’ve also noticed that they stopped reporting it as the “Chicago Shooting” which is what I saw yesterday, to the “Illinois shooting” which is what I am now seeing. They know people will disengage if they call it a Chicago shooting because that is expected (sarcasm) there. It’s jacked up.

      • MipMip says:

        The early reports of a “Chicago shooting” were just bad reporting. HP is 25 miles north of Chicago.

        Also, HP is predominantly Jewish and liberal. There are unconfirmed reports that the shooter was checking out a local synogogue during Passover. I’m local and when I heard about the shooting I knew in my gut this was a hate crime and that’s what it’s looking like.

      • bettyrose says:

        Highland Park isn’t even in Cook County. It’s one of those suburbs where people who don’t commute to the city for work can realistically claim to never step foot in the city, and undoubtedly for many of them that’s true (other than perhaps an occasional trip to the Art Institute or the opera). Highland Park/North Shore has its own cultural scene, music, arts, theater, that people can choose a life of privileged seclusion. Except for the fact that it has a very large Jewish population, and therefore the possibility of a hate crime needs to be considered, it’s exactly the type of community where people realistically do think they’re safe from the ills of modern society. So let’s be clear that no one is safe. Not until we ban high capacity weapons.

    • Sue says:

      It happened in my town in May and man did it hit hard. I had felt for a while that it’s only a matter of time before it comes to everyone’s hometowns. It does happen here.
      I’m a basket case. I’m worried all the time for my daughter going to school. An exit sign fell down in a hallway at my work on Friday, made a loud banging noise, and my coworkers and I made sure entryways to our office were locked and we were scared. It does happen here! This is America.

  16. Moxylady says:

    As an American, I’m surprised there was only one. That’s how bad it is.
    My sil lives about 20 from there. They stayed home. But their town had snipers posted on the rooftops.
    So much freedom

    • bettyrose says:

      It took me awhile to figure out what you meant by “only one.” High capacity rifles negate the need for an accomplice. Oooooh, only one domestic terrorist attack on a 4th of July parade. I see what you’re saying. I suspect most white terrorists still consider the day sacred. Give it time.

      • Moxylady says:

        Sorry. I wasn’t clear. I was surprised that there was only one mass shooting. Like when I stopped to think about it …. So many people. So many escape routes etc.

    • Ness says:

      There wasn’t only one mass shooting. We’ve had 13 mass shootings this month (5 whole days) and 3 of them were on July Fourth. This one has the most attention because it involved the largest amount of victims (killed and injured).

      There have been over 300 mass shootings in the US this year, so I’m not surprised either, but it’d be a relief to live in a country where any type of shooting is a surprise instead of the norm.

  17. Eowyn says:

    The violence and loss of rights that some groups with privilege are now experiencing in the US-that violence and lack of freedom has always been the reality for Black and Indigenous peoples in the US, and the most disadvantaged individuals in other communities in the US. The point is to make people afraid to engage with others they see as “different”.

    • Yup, Me says:

      Exactly.

    • Tessa says:

      But how does the recent string of shootings make us afraid to engage with those we see as “different”? I’m white, these shooters are white. I have a son, he’s much younger, but before too long, he will be 22. This isn’t someone I can ever truly see as “different”, not on the outside, not only he’s wearing a MAGA hat or something. I feel like at this point, it’s just everyone afraid of everyone because you never know who’s packing and what they are thinking.

      • Alice says:

        Well, for one instance, would you hesitate before attending a PRIDE event these days?

      • bettyrose says:

        I think that’s the point. People with little power have been afraid throughout our country’s history, but people with privilege and power suddenly can’t hide from the threat of violence either. What’s astonishing is that the NRA and their minions are so powerful that even communities that historically seemed very powerful (e.g. wealthy with the ear of political entities) are no match. Where does that leave us?

  18. Mimi says:

    Nothing surprises me anymore i saw the article and shrugged. No one cares. If gov’t cared something would be done. Take your “thoughts and prayers” and shove it. Nothing is ever gonna change!

  19. Peanut Butter says:

    More of our toxic, tragic American exceptionalism at work. What a miracle that police apprehended the shooter without having to pump him full of 60 bullets

    • ME says:

      I was thinking the same thing. A lot of the time, White shooters seem to be captured alive. Go figure.

  20. Jessica says:

    I randomly came across a few videos on Reddit this morning and I was crying and shaking after the clip with the gun sounds and people screaming. Sounded like 60 rounds in less than 30 seconds. I cannot believe any civilian has access to that kind of weapon, so much damage in a short time. It makes no fkng sense.

  21. Sue says:

    I felt no reason to celebrate yesterday. I saw it as a day off of work. I spent time with my loved ones and hugged my baby daughter extra tight. Her daycare holds active shooter drills: the US is not a country to celebrate.

  22. 2lazy4usetname says:

    I live 15 minutes south of HP but have friends who live there and knew several people in attendance. Although all official events and fireworks were canceled in surrounding towns in the aftermath, people still very insensitively set off fireworks til midnite, when a huge thunderstorm then hit and forced them to stop. The incessant fireworks and then the incessant thunder and lightning felt really dystopian, and I can only imagine how all those sounds, so cruelly similar to the sound of gunshots, impacted those poor people who experienced the shooting firsthand.

  23. sparky says:

    Okay, so I found the shooting exceptionally upsetting as I lived Highland Park for about 10 years. That said, I just want to acknowledge Officer Hottie, the police officer in the header picture.

  24. DogMom says:

    I hate this place. (America, not Celebitchy. Celebitchy comment sections gives me a minor dose of sanity).

  25. LLM says:

    Long time reader, but I never comment. I live in the North Shore suburbs 15 minutes from Highland Park. I spent my 4th of July holiday in the backyard listening to sirens from ambulances transporting the victims to hospitals and sheltering in place because the shooter was at large in my area for 8+ hours. My husband’s co-worker and his young daughter attended the parade in HP and are being treated for shrapnel wounds today. My community is most definitely NOT okay today, but those of us with young children have to pretend that we are. Something has to change in this country. We’re not really “free” if we have to fear for our lives during benign activities like attending a freaking parade.