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UPDATE: Multiple People Shot at Illinois Fourth of July Parade, At Least Six Dead — Shooter in Custody

Published: July 04, 2022
  |   By Cassandra MacDonald

Multiple people were shot at the Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois, on Monday.

The suspect, Robert “Bobby” Crimo, 22, was taken into custody around 7 p.m. local time after a brief police chase.

The shooting in Highland Park, which is approximately 25 miles north of Chicago, began minutes after the parade started at around 10 a.m. local time.

Six people were killed and 31 people were injured and transported to local hospitals.

Sources told ABC 7 that “the person could be shooting from atop a high building.”

According to Cmdr. Chris O’Neill from the Highland Park Police, the suspect is “currently described as a male, white, approximately 18 to 20 years old, with longer black hair, a small build, and wearing a white or blue t-shirt.”

“We are assisting Highland Park Police with a shooting in the area of the Independence Day parade route. STAY OUT OF THE AREA – allow law-enforcement and first responders to do their work,” the Lake County Sheriff tweeted.

Witness video shows people running as the gunfire rang out.

A reporter for the Sun-Times said that they personally witnessed blankets placed over “three bloodied bodies and five other people wounded and bloodied near the parade’s reviewing stand.”

“I heard 20 to 25 shots, which were in rapid succession. So it couldn’t have been just a handgun or a shotgun,” witness Miles Zaremski told the Sun-Times. He added that “people in that area that got shot,” including “a woman covered with blood . . . She did not survive.”

The reporter on the scene also noted that police were telling the crowd, “Everybody disperse, please. It is not safe to be here.”

Crimo was an aspiring rapper who used the stage name “Awake the Rapper.” Videos on his social media channels, which have since been removed, appeared to allude to his plans to commit a mass shooting.

Celebrations and festivities in surrounding areas were cancelled as a precaution, as the suspect had remained at large for approximately nine hours.

The Village of Deerfield, which neighbors Highland Park, tweeted that “due to a shooting in Highland Park, Family Days activities at Jewett Park have been cleared and the parade is canceled. Please share that the parade activities are canceled with your family and friends.”

The nearby town of Evanston has also canceled its parade and fireworks.

This situation is ongoing and developing. Timcast will be updating as more information becomes available.

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