July 4th parade attack charged with 7 counts of murder in ‘premeditated and calculated attack’
Prosecutors on Tuesday charged the man suspected of firing upon the crowd at a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park in the Chicago suburb with seven counts of first-degree murder.
Robert E. “Bobby” Crimo III, 21, is charged with seven counts of first-degree murder in what Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart called a “premeditated and calculated attack.” He would face a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted, Illinois state attorney Eric Reinhart said.
The gunman with distinctive facial tattoos opened fire from a rooftop into the Highland Park Independence Day parade Monday in a “completely random” attack that killed at least seven people and injured more than 30. He fired more than 70 rounds with an AR-15-style gun then evaded initial capture by blending into the fleeing crowd, police said Tuesday. “He blended right in with everybody else as they were running around, almost as if he was an innocent spectator as well,” said Sergeant Chris Covelli, a spokesperson for the Lake County Sheriff’s office.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said her “heart aches for the people of Highland Park” in a statement released Tuesday. “Thanks to the heroic efforts of law enforcement, a person of interest in the horrific Highland Park mass shooting is in custody. I hope this provides a bit of solace to those who are deeply grieving tonight in the wake of today’s unspeakable tragedy,” Lightfoot said.
“Gun violence does not respect geographic boundaries or socioeconomic differences. It is a plague that affects us all. Whether it is Back of the Yards, Englewood, West Garfield Park, Uvalde, Buffalo, or now Highland Park, none of us are immune, and all are vulnerable without a federal effort to take weapons of war out of the hands of civilians. It can be done, it must be done, and we must continue to move toward that goal with all deliberate speed. We cannot be truly free unless we are relentlessly brave,” she added.
Mass shootings on the rise in the United States, Since the start of the year, there have been 15 shootings where four or more people have been killed, including the Highland Park one, according to Northeastern University mass killing database.
The mass shooting at a Fourth of July parade comes less than two weeks after President Biden signed a bipartisan bill aimed at curbing gun violence.
“As families come together to celebrate America, they are gunned down in the scourge of gun violence plaguing it. This is a tragedy,” Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass said in a tweet. “The Bipartisan Gun Law was a first step, but Congress must do more to stop this deadly epidemic and save lives.”
