July 5, 2022 Highland Park, Illinois, parade shooting news

Follow the latest news on the Illinois Fourth of July parade shooting here and read more about today’s developments in the posts below.

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks near the site of Monday's mass shooting.

Vice President Kamala Harris visited the scene of the Highland Park, Illinois, mass shooting on Tuesday evening, expressing in remarks to reporters her support for the community and urging the country to “stand together and speak out” about why gun violence has to stop.

“There’s a lot of healing that’s gonna have to happen, that is both physical and emotional. There is no question that this experience is something that is gonna linger in terms of the trauma. And so I’d like to urge all the families and all the individuals to do — seek the support that you so rightly to serve,” Harris continued.

Harris also used a portion of her remarks to address gun safety in the United States.

“We’ve got to be smarter as a country, in terms of who has access to what, and in particular, assault weapons. And we’ve got to take this stuff seriously, as seriously as you are, because you have been forced to have to take this seriously,” she said.

Harris was accompanied on her visit by Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering, Rep. Brad Schneider, a Democrat who represents the 10th District in Illinois, and state Sen. Julie Morrison, according to the press pool traveling with her Tuesday.

More on the vice president’s Illinois visit: During a call Tuesday morning, Rotering invited the vice president to join her in Highland Park following Harris’ speech to the National Education Association.

Harris delivered remarks earlier on Tuesday in Chicago, just miles from Highland Park, and pointedly told Congress to “have the courage” to act on an assault weapons ban and to “stop protecting” gun manufacturers.

“Yesterday, it should have been a day to come together with family and friends to celebrate our nation’s independence and instead, that community suffered a violent tragedy,” Harris said in remarks to the National Education Association on Tuesday.

“We need to stop this violence,” she said.

“You know, I’ve said it before. Enough is enough,” she said forcefully. “I mean, here we are, our nation is still mourning the loss of those 19 babies and their two teachers in Uvalde.”

CNN’s Mary Kay Mallonee contributed reporting to this post.

In September 2019, Illinois State Police (ISP) received a “Clear and Present Danger report” from the Highland Park Police Department regarding threats Highland Park shooting suspect Robert “Bobby” Crimo III allegedly made against family members, the agency said in a statement Tuesday.

The agency added that they didn’t make any arrests at the time due to a lack of charges or further evidence of threats.

According to ISP, family members were not willing to file a complaint and no further information about additional threats or mental health issues was shared.

Because Crimo didn’t have an active Firearm Owners Identification (FOID) card or a pending request for one at the time, police decided “involvement with the matter was concluded.”

In December 2019, when Crimo was 19 years old, he applied for a FOID card that was sponsored by his father, ISD says.

Stephen Straus.

Stephen Straus, an 88-year-old man identified by authorities as one of the seven victims killed in the Highland Park, Illinois, July Fourth parade mass shooting, was described by his family as good humored and full of life.

Straus’ grandsons told CNN on Tuesday they had a close relationship with their grandfather who they saw almost every Sunday for weekly family dinners. 

“He was very active, he enjoyed life,” Maxwell Straus, 18, told CNN. “He attended music festivals, loved to get outside, and biked into his 80s.”

Maxwell Straus said that his grandfather mentioned he was going to the parade during a recent dinner. “He was very excited,” Maxwell Straus recalled. 

When news about the shooting surfaced, Maxwell’s father, Jonathan Straus, grew very worried after Stephen failed to answer his phone.

A few hours later, the hospital called to confirm his death. 

“It was shocking, hard to imagine,” Maxwell said.

Tobias Straus, 20, told CNN that hearing the news of his grandfather’s death was the “the worst thing imaginable to happen.”

“The gun lobby and America’s cultural worship of guns is deadly. It kills grandfathers,” he added. 

Irina and Kevin McCarthy.

What was supposed to be a day of national celebration turned into a day of tragedy and fear when a gunman killed seven people and injured dozens of others at a July Fourth parade in Highland Park, Illinois.

Now, yet another community in America is grieving the loss of family and friends: Among them, the parents of a 2-year-old boy.

Irina and Kevin McCarthy, who were killed in the shooting, are the parents of a toddler who was found alive after the parade shooting, according to a family member.

Irina Colon, who was related to Irina McCarthy, shared an undated photo with CNN of the couple at their wedding in Chicago.

Colon said she was not at the parade and found out about the couple’s death from Irina McCarthy’s father. The couple’s 2-year-old son, Aiden, will now be cared for by family members, Colon said.

A verified GoFundMe campaign that Colon began said that in the aftermath of the violence, the young child was taken to safety by community members before his grandparents were located.

“On behalf of his family, and with their permission, I am establishing this fundraiser to support him and the caregivers who will be tasked with raising, caring for, and supporting Aiden as he and his support system embark on this unexpected journey,” it added.

The GoFundMe page had raised more than $725,000 by Tuesday evening.

A Highland Park, Illinois, synagogue congregation official tells CNN that shooting suspect Robert E. Crimo was present at a Passover service in April at Central Avenue Synagogue.

The congregation official said Crimo did not act suspicious and left on his own.

“He didn’t look familiar, but didn’t do anything,” the congregation official told CNN. 

In an earlier interview with CNN Newsroom with Ana Cabrera, Rabbi Yosef Schanowitz was asked about Crimo’s visit to his synagogue but noted he could not comment because it was an ongoing investigation.

“Well, I apologize, but I was directed by the authorities because the investigation is pending, not to talk [about] this item at the moment,” the Rabbi said.

Today, law enforcement told reporters they did not have any information regarding the visit and that they have not uncovered evidence to suggest the attack was religiously motivated.

A couple looks toward the scene of the mass shooting in downtown Highland Park, Illinois, on Tuesday, July 5.

Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart said that more needs to be done to prevent tragedies like the mass shooting that left at least seven people dead in Highland Park, Illinois, at a July 4th parade.

Rinehart highlighted the need to raise more awareness for the Illinois Firearm Restraining Order, a red flag law.

“The goal of this tool is to ensure the safety of the individual and those around him. It allows courts to temporarily remove guns and prevent the purchase of new guns by individuals who pose a significant risk,” he explained.

Rinehart also called for a ban on assault weapons in “Illinois and beyond.”

“As we go forward in the courtroom and in the community, we must do everything we can to make sure that the horror that marked these streets, that echoed from these buildings never happens again,” he said.

The Highland Park, Illinois, shooting suspect, Robert E. Crimo III, has been charged with seven counts of first-degree murder, Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart announced.

Rinehart said he anticipates more charges in the future.

If Crimo is convicted on these seven charges, it will lead to a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole, Rinehart said. The official said that they will ask the judge tomorrow to hold Crimo “without the possibility of bail.”

“In the courtroom, we will seek the maximum sentence against this offender. Not because we seek vengeance, but because justice and the healing process demand it,” Rinehart said.

At least seven people were killed in the Monday shooting and dozens were injured.

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at the National Education Association annual meeting in Chicago on July 5.

Speaking in Chicago, just miles from Highland Park, Vice President Kamala Harris pointedly told Congress to “have the courage” to act on an assault weapon ban and to “stop protecting” gun manufacturers. 

“Yesterday, it should have been a day to come together with family and friends to celebrate our nation’s independence and instead, that community suffered a violent tragedy,” Harris said in remarks to the National Education Association on Tuesday. 

“You know, I’ve said it before. Enough is enough!,” she said, her voice rising to applause from the group. “I mean, here we are, our nation is still mourning the loss of those 19 babies and their two teachers in Uvalde.”

She called the Uvalde shooting a “massacre” that served as “the most recent reminder in evolving of the risks that our children and our educators face every day.”

“Teachers should not have to practice barricading a classroom. Teachers should not have to know how to treat a gunshot wound. And teachers should not be told that lives would have been saved if only you had a gun,” Harris said. 

Last month, President Biden signed into law a bipartisan gun safety measure that Harris called “progress,” but she said the country still has “to do more.” 

She added that Congress needs to stop “protecting those gun manufacturers with the liability shield.” 

“We cannot give up this fight. We will not tire. Because I know who you are,” she told the crowd. “That is just not in our nature.” 

Harris’ comments came after Biden offered a fairly muted response to the shooting during the White House Independence Day celebration.

“You all heard what happened today. But each day, we’re reminded there’s nothing guaranteed about our democracy, nothing guaranteed about our way of life,” he said during an initial appearance at the BBQ.

Later, Biden held a moment of silence for the victims during the entertainment portion of the event. 

On Tuesday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked about Biden’s brief comments and her characterization that he had spoken “forcefully.” She said there had been “many times the President has spoken forcefully, urgently about a moment that that currently exists in our country, which is a gun violence epidemic.” 

“To say that this President has not shown urgency, it’s just false,” she added.

Eric Rinehart, the Lake County state attorney, is holding a news conference alongside other officials on the deadly Highland Park, Illinois, parade shooting. 

An official said earlier Tuesday that the state attorney’s office is slated to announce charges against the shooting suspect.

The suspect, Robert E. Crimo III, has been in police custody since being apprehended Monday evening, though no charges have been announced.

Former classmates of the Highland Park, Illinois, shooting suspect on Tuesday described him as an odd, soft-spoken kid who didn’t participate in class or school activities and showed little interest in engaging with his peers. 

The few friends Robert “Bobby” Crimo III had tended to be troublemakers who seemed to relish the notion of being outsiders, a couple of his former classmates said. 

“They wanted to be the ‘anti-’ group, like the rebels,” said Mackenzie, a former classmate who asked to be identified only by her first name to protect her privacy. “The aura they presented was opposite, negative and harsh.”

Mackenzie said she attended middle school and high school with Crimo and once shared a Spanish class with him. “Whenever I heard him speak, it was very lifeless and negative,” she said. “He’s always been down and not enthusiastic.” 

One former classmate who requested anonymity for privacy reasons said he and Crimo used to hang out and play video games and skateboard together in middle school but that they drifted apart when they were freshmen at Highland Park High School. 

“He was a skater kid,” he said of Crimo in middle school. “He would make YouTube videos all the time back then. Kind of DIY videos on how to grip a skateboard or replace a wheel, stuff like that.”

But in high school, the former classmate said, Crimo grew more insular and distant.  

“He was always by himself,” he said. “No one seemed to try to be his friend.”  

Just before Crimo dropped out of Highland Park High in 2017, he splattered “Awake” stickers in the school’s stairways and bathrooms, the former classmate said. Crimo made rap music under the name “Awake the Rapper.”

On Monday, when authorities announced that Crimo was “a person of interest” in the Fourth of July shooting, a one-time friend said he “was not shocked.”

Molly Handelman, who also said she attended middle school and high school with Crimo, described him as a “very quiet” guy. “When he did talk, he was very soft. He didn’t seem aggressive ever, at all.” 

Handelman, who worked with Crimo on class projects a few times, said “something definitely seemed off” with him.  

“If he was asked to speak, he definitely had an opinion,” she said. “I just remember if he was asked to speak, he would be like, ‘I don’t care,’ kind of thing.” 

“He made it very clear he didn’t care about school,” Handelman said. “His friends got into trouble pretty often in school. He stayed pretty reserved and quiet, so it seemed pretty interesting how he was very quiet but his friends were very rebellious,” she added.

Handelman said she was shocked to learn of Monday’s shooting. “It’s very traumatizing. A lot of people in Highland Park feel like it’s a very safe community,” she said. 

Another former classmate, who also requested CNN not use his name due to privacy concerns, said Crimo “kind of kept his head down, listened to music, walked through the hallways, minded his own business.” This classmate, however, said he didn’t think there was a darker side to Crimo’s reclusive nature. “By no means was I like ‘this kid has demons,’” he told CNN.

When Steve Tilkin first heard gunshots at the July Fourth parade in Highland Park, Illinois, it was his 13-year-old granddaughter who jumped into action first.

“I have no experience in gunshots, but I thought they were just fireworks,” Tilkin said. This was the moment his granddaughter, who had been through active shooter drills, grabbed her 9-year-old brother and dove to the ground, shielding him.

He said he and his wife were standing “in a state of shock.” Soon, he and his wife both dove on top of both of the kids, trying to protect them from the gunfire.

Tilkin said he thinks the shots came from the rooftop of a building across the street from where they were standing. Police have said the shooting suspect fired more than 70 rounds from the roof of a business, although they have not disclosed a specific location.

Once the gunfire subsided, Tilkin and his family ran into a nearby store where a crowd of people was sheltering. The business owners helped everyone get into the basement, away from the storefront.

After police swept the basement where they were hiding, searching for the shooting suspect, Tilkin got his first look at the aftermath outside.

“I went to the window at the front, just to look out, and I saw there was a body there, about eight feet from where we were standing and that body was surrounded by a pool of blood and I realize how close we were to getting shot,” he said.

Illinois law enforcement interacted with shooting suspect Robert E. Crimo III twice before a mass shooting at a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park on Monday, police said.

Crimo is in custody and has not yet been charged in connection to the shooting.

Deputy Chief Christopher Covelli, a spokesperson for the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, said in April 2019, someone contacted the Highland Park Police Department a week after learning that Crimo had attempted to die by suicide.

Since it was a delayed report, Covelli said police went to his house and spoke with Crimo and his parents.

“The matter was being handled by mental health professionals at that time. There was no law enforcement action to be taken. It was a mental health issue handled by those professionals,” Covelli said.

He said the second interaction happened in September 2019 when a family member reported that Crimo had a collection of knives and he said “he was going to kill everyone.”

“The police responded to his residence. The police removed 16 knives, a dagger and a sword from Crimo’s home,” Covelli said, adding that at that time, there was no probable cause to arrest Crimo because there were no complaints that were signed by any of the victims.

Deputy Chief Christopher Covelli, a spokesperson for the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, said Tuesday that investigators are looking for a person they believe saw shooting suspect Robert E. Crimo III drop his rifle after the shooting at the Highland Park, Illinois, parade.

Covelli confirmed the object inside the red blanket was a rifle. The official said police haven’t been able to identify the witness yet, but said if the person hears this request, to please call 1-800-Call-FBI.

All but one of the victims of the Highland Park parade mass shooting were identified Tuesday during a news conference.

Here are the names of the victims, according to Lake Country Coroner Jennifer Banek:

A seventh victim died from injuries Tuesday. Their name has not yet been released.

Deputy Chief Christopher Covelli, a spokesperson for the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, said the state attorney’s office is expected to announce charges against the shooting suspect during a news conference at 6:30 p.m. ET (5:30 p.m. CT).

“We anticipate an announcement of charges at this time,” Covelli said.

The shooting suspect remains in custody following the deadly shooting of at least seven people at a Highland Park, Illinois, Fourth of July parade on Monday.

A Highland Park, Illinois, grandmother says she is “done” with gun violence after being forced to hide with her family as a gunman opened fire Monday during a 4th of July parade.

Bobbie Katz Hinden told CNN on Tuesday that she has been attending Highland Park’s 4th of July parade for 30 years. 

She was celebrating the holiday with her two adult children and her 3-year-old grandson.

Katz Hinden says more needs to be done to prevent these acts of violence.

“This morning when I told my kids that I was going to join you. They were shocked that I said yes. And they said ‘Mom, just tell your story. Don’t be political.’” Katz Hinden told CNN. “But I do have to share with you that I’m done. I don’t want people’s prayers. I don’t want their sympathy. We have to do something about this.”

When asked if she would ever take her grandson to a parade again, Katz Hinden told Alisyn Camerota: “That’s a really good question. I’d like to think that my life can go on.”

Katz Hinden, who also runs a childcare center in the area, says they are doing their best to make sure the community gets the healing it needs.

At least seven people were killed in the shooting and dozens have been injured, officials say

A seventh victim has died from Monday’s fatal mass shooting during a parade in Highland Park, Illinois, Mayor Nancy Rotering tells CNN. 

According to an update from the NorthShore University Health System, a total of 39 people were received at four hospitals from the shooting yesterday.

An American flag is flown at half-staff in Highland Park, Illinois, on July 5.

Maggie Schmieder, 40, was sitting with her family and friends in front of the Dairy Queen in Highland Park, Illinois, along the parade route and described the moments after the shooting more as “chaotic calm” than terror or panic.

“People weren’t like sprinting or diving down,” she said. “It was like there was this confusion, but people automatically started going.”

She and her family fled the area and eventually made their way to their car before driving away from the scene safely.

Schmieder works as a teacher and said she has prepared for a mass shooting at her school.

She told CNN that she moved to Highland Park eight years ago, a year after the city’s 2013 move to ban assault rifles, a push that played into her decision to relocate.

“One of the reasons we sought out Highland Park and chose to live here was due to some of those strict ideas about gun laws, safety, a relatively liberal, forward-thinking, educated community that we felt safe raising our children in,” she said. “I think now the takeaway here is that, while everything that could have been done possibly in terms of those laws, and police presence that was there, and preparedness, and it still wasn’t preventable. It still wasn’t stopped.”

She agreed with Highland Park’s mayor saying that the patchwork of gun laws makes restrictions difficult on a local level.

“Our laws tried to protect the citizens and reflect our values here, but that doesn’t mean they can’t cross county lines, cross-town lines, cross state lines and bring these weapons back in,” she said.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, along with Democratic Rep. Robin Kelly and other leaders, reacted to the shooting in Highland Park, Illinois, as they discussed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act at Aunt Martha’s Southeast Chicago Community Health Center.

At least six people were killed in the shooting during a 4th of July parade, and dozens have been injured, officials said. The shooting suspect, who has not been charged, was taken into custody Monday evening. He used a “high-powered rifle” in the attack, police said.

President Biden in June signed into law the first major federal gun safety legislation passed in decades, marking a significant bipartisan breakthrough on one of the most contentious policy issues in Washington. The legislation came together in the aftermath of recent mass shootings at a Uvalde, Texas, elementary school and a Buffalo, New York, supermarket that was in a predominantly Black neighborhood.  

“This act also closes what is known as the boyfriend loophole by broadening limits on firearm purchases by people who have abused romantic and intimate partners,” she added. 

Rep. Kelly also spoke about the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act and “why we have to keep working. 

“Just yesterday in Highland Park, we lost six people to gun violence,” she said. “People were there just to enjoy their Independence Day weekend.” The lawmaker added the suspect “tore their worlds apart with a gun.”

According to Kelly, an important aspect of the bill for Chicago is the community violence intervention. 

“We can pass all the laws that we want, but if we don’t invest in our young people, we don’t invest in our neighborhood, if we don’t invest in our communities, those gun laws are not going to mean a whole lot,” she said. “This new law includes a direct $250 million investment in community violence, intervention, funding and investments into many of the programs to curb violence.”

A total of 39 people were received at four hospitals from the mass shooting in Highland Park, Illinois, yesterday, according to an update from Jim Anthony, senior director of public relations at NorthShore University Health System.

They were either transported to the hospital or drove themselves to the hospital, according to Deputy Chief Christopher Covelli, a spokesperson for the Lake County Sheriff’s Office. They were injured by gunfire, he said.

The patients were received at hospitals in Highland Park, Evanston, Skokie and Glenbrook, Anthony said.

Anthony said nine patients now remain hospitalized in their health system, and their ages range from 14 to 70s. Four patients are in good condition; another four are in stable condition; and one patient, a 69-year old man, is in critical condition with a gunshot wound at Evanston Hospital, Anthony told CNN. 

Eight of the nine current patients suffered gunshot wounds, according to Anthony.

Of the 39 total patients, 28 patients have been treated and discharged, Anthony said.

An 8-year-old boy was transported to University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital, and one patient died yesterday while receiving critical care in the Highland Park Hospital Emergency Department, he said.

Barbara Medina at the parade on Monday with her daughter Caroline, 7, and her son Christian, 12.

Barbara Medina, 46, was injured in the shooting — not by gunfire, but by the stampede.

She was marching in the parade holding the banner for Community Partners for Affordable Housing (CPAH) when she heard gunshots ring out. A sea of people rushed toward her, so she dropped the banner, grabbed her 7-year-old daughter, Caroline, and her scooter and ran. She got split up from her 12-year-old son and her father in the chaos.

Medina fled down an alley and noticed her daughter slowing down behind her. She reached back to grab her daughter and help her along, but tripped on her scooter and fell hard on her left arm. She knew immediately it was broken.

“I could see it went the wrong way, and I had to kind of maneuver it back. It was very painful,” she said.

After making it to a stranger’s home, she learned that her son and father were safe and sheltering elsewhere. She borrowed a sling and an ice pack and propped her arm up on some pillows to relieve the pain. Hours later, she went to Skokie Hospital, a non-trauma hospital, to get her arm set, and doctors diagnosed her with a broken proximal radius just below the elbow. She now has a cast from the tips of her fingers to the top of her shoulder and expects to be in a cast for about six to eight weeks.

Her arm is sore but she said she was thankful she and her family weren’t seriously injured.

In the wake of the mass shooting at the July 4 parade in Highland Park, Illinois, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell did not explicitly say Congress should do more to address gun violence, instead saying that the recently passed bipartisan gun legislation has “targeted the problem,” which he said is mental health.

“I think yesterday’s shooting is another example of what the problem is. The problem is mental health and these young men who seem to be inspired to commit these atrocities. So, I think the bill that we passed targeted the problem. In that particular instance, it was school safety and mental health,” McConnell said.

More context: Studies show, however, that people with severe mental illnesses are more than 10 times more likely to be victims of violent crime than the general population and only about 3% to 5% of violent acts can be attributed to serious mental illness, according to the US Department of Health and Human Services.

In his prepared remarks at the Paducah Area Chamber of Commerce Public Policy Luncheon in Paducah, Kentucky, on Tuesday, McConnell generally referenced recent shootings and the new bipartisan gun legislation, but didn’t specifically speak to the shooting in Highland Park. 

“Recently, in the wake of all of these shootings, I joined both sides in the Senate in passing a bill related to school safety and mental illness,” he said in a speech, “while at the same time not infringing upon anybody’s Second Amendment rights.”

He did address the Illinois parade shooting when asked by a reporter after his speech. 

Dr. Wendy Binstock Rush, an anesthesiologist who was at the Fourth of July parade where the shooting unfolded, said several people with medical training tried to help those who were shot during the event in Highland Park, Illinois.

A suspected gunman killed six people and injured dozens of others when he opened fire into the parade crowd from the roof of a building. Police say the suspected shooter used a “high-powered rifle” to fire more than 70 rounds on Monday.

Binstock Rush said she was waiting for her family to arrive at the parade when the shooting began. She said it seemed like the gunfire was close to where she was standing.

When the gunfire stopped, she identified herself as an anesthesiologist physician and was led to what she says was the “most critical person at the time” — a man who was “profusely bleeding” from his abdomen, she said.

“CPR was in progress. People were holding pressure on an abdominal wound that he was profusely bleeding from,” she said, adding that they continued CPR and started IV fluids to try to offset the blood he was losing.

Eventually, paramedics showed up and put the man in an ambulance.

“We took him into the hospital, and we spent about another 20 to 30 minutes working on him, but unfortunately, he had lost way too much blood and his injuries were too severe and he did perish at the hospital,” she said.

Some residents of Highland Park, Illinois, told CNN that they recognized shooting suspect Robert E. Crimo III, after police released photos of him due to his distinctive appearance, stating that they had seen him recently around the area.

Eric Januszewski and Kate McCarney live just a block away from the shooting scene and came out Tuesday morning with their rescue dog Biff to see the crime scene. A day earlier, Januszewski was at his home during the parade, heard the gunshots and saw the stampede of people fleeing. He offered waters and sodas to police in the hours afterward as they baked in the sun.

Both recognized the suspect, Crimo, from previous run-ins, primarily due to his colorful hair and prominent face tattoos. At a recent carnival in Highwood, Januszewski said he commented to Crimo about the face tattoos, noting they were “quite a commitment.” Crimo agreed and then told Januszewski to check out his SoundCloud account, he said.

Ellen Cohen and Rob Phillips

Other residents who were at the Fourth of July parade reflected on the chaotic scene that ensued once the shooting started.

Ellen Cohen and Rob Phillips attended the parade and set up their chairs near its start, a block away from Central Avenue, where the shooting ultimately took place. They wanted to avoid the crowds.

They snapped a selfie of themselves smiling and enjoyed watching a group of kids bike through the parade route just minutes prior to the start of the official parade. About 10-15 minutes after the parade began, they heard what they thought was fireworks and ultimately realized were gunshots and ran from the area. Ellen left behind her cell phone and returned hours later to retrieve it.

Robert E. Crimo III.

For two residents, a last minute decision to skip the parade left them wondering what would have happened if they hadn’t change their mind.

Anisah and Steve Mihaljevic live on Central Avenue and Linden Avenue, just a block from the parade route. They were in Skokie, Illinois, visiting her parents on Monday morning and considered coming home for the parade after an invite from some friends. But they decided not to, partly out of laziness — a decision that left them wondering, “What if?”

“It was just so random that we ended up not being here,” Anisah told CNN, sitting on a bench near the crime scene. “It was one of those random decisions that ends up changing your life.”

They noted that last month, on June 11, there was a March For Our Lives rally in downtown Highland Park and at Sunset Park, where the parade ends. Their daughters attended and held signs calling for change.

Members of the FBI conduct a search after the shooting in Highland Park, Illinois, on Monday.

The FBI is combing the area of the mass shooting in Highland Park, Illinois, for evidence. 

On the morning after Monday’s shooting, three blocks of Central Avenue in downtown Highland Park remain blocked off behind police lines. 

Flowers lay near the scene of the shooting in Highland Park, Illinois, on Tuesday.

FBI agents today have been inspecting belongings left behind by people attending the July 4 parade in the city yesterday, including folding chairs, blankets and a child’s car stroller.

A police officer walks through the scene of the shooting on Monday.

Both inside and outside the police tape, overturned lawn chairs and other items remain strewn on the ground. Spotted among the items were a Dunkin’ Donuts iced coffee that was overrun by ants, a half-eaten cup of noodles, a toy truck, sunscreen, bottles of water, dog treats and a stuffed Sonic the Hedgehog toy

The suspected shooter killed at least six people and injured dozens of others on Monday. The suspect, who was taken into custody later Monday, climbed onto a rooftop of a business and opened fire on the parade about 20 minutes after it started.

Bystanders said they initially thought the sound of gunfire was fireworks.

FBI agents investigate at the scene of the shooting on Tuesday.

The area is a wealthy suburb through and through. On the east end of the police tape is a Metra train crossing and St. John’s Avenue; the four corners are a Veterans Memorial to Highland Park soldiers, a parking lot, a salon, and a bank. On the west end of the police tape is Green Bay Road; on its corners are a gas station and an Anthropologie store.

People’s belongings lie abandoned along the parade route on Tuesday.

Members of the FBI walk the scene one day after the shooting in Highland Park, Illinois, on Tuesday.

Police are releasing new details about what they believe happened during a shooting at a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois, that killed six people on Monday. The suspected gunman, Robert E. Crimo III, is in custody but has not yet been charged.

Police say the shooting suspect used a “high-powered rifle” — which was purchased legally in Illinois — to shoot more than 70 rounds into the crowd from the roof of a building. Law enforcement said they have not yet determined a motive, but they believe the attack was planned for several weeks.

Here’s what else police say happened:

What comes next:

Covelli said that investigators are not ready to announce charges yet against the shooting suspect. He added that investigators are still developing leads and reviewing “critical information.” Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering told CNN she expects charges to be announced later Tuesday.

At the same time, FBI agents today have been inspecting belongings left behind by people attending the July 4th parade in the city yesterday, including folding chairs, blankets and a child’s car stroller.

Nicolas Toledo

Nicolas Toledo, 78, was identified as one of the victims of the mass shooting in downtown Highland Park, Illinois, during a Fourth of July parade, an official of the Mexican state of Morelos confirmed to CNN.

Six of Toledo’s eight children live in the United States. One of them was injured in the shooting as well as two other members of the Toledo family, according to a statement from Mexican authorities.

Toledo loved to paint, go fishing and go on walks with his family in the park, his granddaughter Kimberly Rangel told CNN affiliate WBBM.

Xochil Toledo, another grandchild, started a GoFundMe page, where she describes Toledo as a “loving man” who was “creative, adventurous and funny.”

“As a family we are broken, and numb,” she wrote, adding that her grandfather is now the family’s guardian angel and asked people to keep them in her prayers.

“I love you abuelito. Descansa en paz,” she wrote.

According to the official in Mexico, Toledo’s family wants to repatriate him to Mexico.

YouTube and Spotify have removed content tied to the Highland Park shooting suspect from their platforms, the companies confirmed to CNN on Tuesday.

The content in question had been posted to multiple online streaming services and contained ominous lyrics and animated scenes of gun violence, CNN previously reported.

“Following the horrific incident in Highland Park, our Trust and Safety teams identified and quickly removed violative content, in accordance with our Community Guidelines,” YouTube said in a statement.

“Spotify, in partnership with the distributor, has removed the content in question,” Spotify said in a statement.

The companies declined to answer CNN’s questions about whether the suspect’s content had been flagged or reported previously for violations of the platforms’ respective terms of service. The companies also declined to say when precisely they removed the suspect’s content. 

CNN has also reached out to Apple Music, Amazon Music, Tidal and Pandora with similar questions, but the companies have not yet responded.

President Biden is honoring the victims of the mass shooting in Highland Park, Illinois, on Tuesday with a proclamation calling for the flags to be lowered to half-staff through Saturday.

“I hereby order that the flag of the United States shall be flown at half-staff at the White House and upon all public buildings and grounds, at all military posts and naval stations, and on all naval vessels of the Federal Government in the District of Columbia and throughout the United States and its Territories and possessions until sunset, July 9, 2022,” Biden said in a statement.

The suspected gunman was dressed in women’s clothing during Monday’s attack and investigators believe he did so to conceal his facial tattoos and his identity, according to Deputy Chief Christopher Covelli, a spokesperson for the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.

Covelli said the suspect’s disguise helped him blend in with the other people who were fleeing the scene.

Following the attack the suspect exited the roof, dropped his rifle and blended in with the crowd as he escaped, Covelli said. According to police, the suspected gunman then walked to his mother’s home, who lived in the area, where he took his mother’s vehicle.

Covelli said he wasn’t sure exactly of what the women’s attire consisted of, but noted that it was initially reported the person had long hair, meaning the suspect could have been wearing a wig.

The suspect in Monday’s mass shooting in Highland Park, Illinois, fired at the Independence Day parade-goers from a roof. After shooting “more than 70 rounds” in the crowd, he exited the roof, dropped his rifle and blended in with the crowd to escape, according to Deputy Chief Christopher Covelli.

The gunman has been identified as Robert “Bobby” E. Crimo III.

“We issued an alert yesterday afternoon,” Covelli continued, saying officials provided the vehicle’s information and Crimo’s information.

Covelli thanked “an alert member of the community” who saw the vehicle and called 911.

“An alert North Chicago Police officer spotted the vehicle, waited for additional backup units to arrive, conducted a traffic stop, and they were able to safely apprehend Crimo with no injuries to the officers,” Covelli added.

A second rifle — also purchased by Crimo — was found in the vehicle, Covelli added.

Currently, the suspect remains in custody and “by all indications, it appears Crimo was acting by himself,” Covelli noted.

Law enforcement said that no motive has been established yet for the suspected shooter to carry out the deadly attack at the Highland Park, Illinois, July 4 parade.

The official also said that at this time, they have no information to suggest the attack was “racially motivated, motivated by religion or any other protected status.”

Videos with violent imagery from the suspect that were posted online are being reviewed, he added.

Deputy Chief Christopher Covelli, a spokesperson for the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, said that investigators are not ready to announce charges yet against the shooting suspect.

“The Lake County state’s attorney’s office has been with us from the ground level. They were with us this morning and through the night. We continue to review the information,” Covelli said.

He added that investigators are still developing leads and reviewing “critical information.” 

“Once we’re at a point where we’re ready to review all of that information for charges, we’ll sit down with the state’s attorney” to discuss criminal charges, Covelli said.

Some more context: Earlier on Tuesday, Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering told CNN that she expects the suspected shooter, Robert Crimo III, to be charged today

“My understanding is that they’ll be levying charges later today,” Rotering told CNN’s Jim Sciutto.

At least six people were killed and dozens were injured in a shooting in downtown Highland Park, Illinois, during a Fourth of July parade on Monday, officials said. Police took the suspect into custody Monday evening.

A police officer walks through downtown Highland Park, the scene of the shooting, on Monday.

Highland Park parade shooting suspect Robert “Bobby” E. Crimo III planned the attack that killed at least six people in the Illinois city over a few weeks, according to police.

“Based on where we’re at, at this point of the investigation — and some of this is preliminary so is subject to change as we keep moving forward — but we do believe Crimo pre-planned this attack for several weeks,” according to Deputy Chief Christopher Covelli of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.

Investigators have spoken to witnesses and reviewed video clips over the past 24 hours, he said.

Deputy Chief Christopher Covelli, of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, said the suspected gunman, Robert E. Crimo III, was acting by himself. Crimo was taken into custody after at least six people were shot during a 4th of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois, on Monday.

Covelli said Crimo is still in custody as investigators and the state’s attorney’s office continue to review the information emerging from the investigation.

The gun used to fire at the July 4 parade in Highland Park, Illinois, was purchased by the suspected gunman legally in Illinois, according to Deputy Chief Christopher Covelli from the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.

During the attack, the official said they believe the suspect, Robert “Bobby” Crimo III, fired “more than 70 rounds” from this rifle into the crowd.

Covelli noted that the suspect used a high-powered rifle that shot high velocity rounds, “similar to an AR-15.” 

Crimo was also in possession of a second rifle, which was found in his vehicle when he was pulled over by police, and also had other firearms that were recovered from a Highwood, Illinois, residence that he was living in. “I know that there were potentially pistols that he had owned as well,” Covelli said.

There is “no indication the weapons were modified,” according to the deputy chief.

CNN’s Rebekah Riess contributed reporting to this post.

Police in Highwood, Illinois – the hometown of the suspected Highland Park shooter Robert “Bobby” Crimo III — had no prior crime-related interactions with Crimo, said Highwood Police Department Chief Dave Wentz. 

Wentz said the only contact the department has had with Crimo involved a non-criminal incident in which Crimo was present when he was a juvenile.

“We literally have nothing on him,” said Wentz. “He was not potentially involved in anything. He was present for something non-criminal.”

President Biden was asked Tuesday whether he intends to travel to Highland Park, Illinois, where a gunman opened fire at a Fourth of July parade, killing at least six and injuring 25 people.

“I’m not sure yet,” he said as he departed a Medal of Honor ceremony in the East Room of the White House with the first lady.

In a statement yesterday, Biden said that “Jill and I are shocked by the senseless gun violence that has yet again brought grief to an American community on this Independence Day.” Biden noted that he had “surged Federal law enforcement to assist in the urgent search for the shooter,” and pointed to the gun safety legislation he recently signed into law. 

Police said the attack on the July 4 Highland Park parade that killed at least six people appeared to be “random” and “intentional.”

Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, a CNN law enforcement analyst, explained how both can be true:

Police believe the suspected shooter, who was taken into custody later Monday, climbed onto a rooftop of a business and opened fire on the parade about 20 minutes after it started. The shooter has not been charged.

David Goldenberg, a witness at the Highland Park, Illinois, parade shooting, said his youngest child asked before going to bed if there will be a shooter at every Fourth of July parade.

Goldenberg said all three of them are at camp this morning.

“Being with their friends is important. … We’ve learned this lesson of listening to them, trying to answer all those questions, trying to be patient as we try to cope as parents and as residents of Highland Park. It’s tough,” he said.

Goldenberg, who is also the Midwest regional director for the Anti-Defamation League, said the scene was chaotic and frightening as he tried to get his three kids away to safety.

Michla Schanowitz was outside her synagogue at the heart of the parade route in Highland Park, Illinois, just four blocks away from where the shooting happened, when she saw crowds running towards her.

“We were sitting peacefully, enjoying ourselves — such a good feeling. The weather was nice, people were out. It was a very warm, connected, friendly community. And it was about 10 minutes into the parade, and it became clear that something had gone wrong,” she told CNN. “I just see people abandoning their chairs, their blankets, strollers, and people just running, running towards where we were.”

That’s when she guided her great nieces and nephews — the oldest of them was 10 years old — into the synagogue and opened the doors to anyone else looking for shelter.

“Calmly, I just said to the children, ‘we’re going to go inside the synagogue. It is a hot day, we’ll get a drink.’ [I] opened the doors and invited anybody in the area who was sitting there, because everyone was looking for shelter. ‘Just come inside, come inside, door is open, come in the synagogue, we’ll be safe in here,’” Schanowitz added.

She said she is still processing what happened yesterday.

“It is difficult. It is very hard to process. There is a lot to process. It is unfathomable that something like this can happen in our country,” Schanowitz said.

Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering

Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering told CNN Tuesday that she expects the suspected shooter, Robert Crimo III, to be charged today

“My understanding is that they’ll be levying charges later today,” Rotering told CNN’s Jim Sciutto.

At least six people were killed and dozens were injured in a shooting in downtown Highland Park, Illinois, during a Fourth of July parade on Monday, officials said. Police took the suspect into custody Monday evening.

Rotering told CNN it is her understanding that the weapon used by the alleged shooter in Monday’s mass shooting in her city was purchased legally.

The mayor also said several of the suspect’s online postings “reflected a plan and a desire to commit carnage for a long time in advance.”

Earlier on Tuesday, she told NBC that she didn’t believe he was previously known to police.

Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering told CNN it is her understanding that the weapon used by the alleged shooter in Monday’s mass shooting in her city was purchased legally.

“That being said, again, if you can have a weekly mass shooting with a legally purchased gun, then I think we need to talk about why those laws aren’t protecting the very people that they’re supposed to be protecting,” Rotering told CNN’s Adrienne Broaddus. “Let’s be honest, we need to make it more difficult for people to create carnage.”

At least six people were killed and dozens were injured in a shooting in downtown Highland Park, Illinois, during a Fourth of July parade, officials said. Police took the suspect into custody Monday evening.

The mayor said she had known the shooting suspect, Robert E. Crimo III, when she was his Cub Scout pack leader.

“Many years ago, he was just a little boy, a quiet little boy that I knew,” she said. 

Rotering earlier told NBC that she didn’t believe he was previously known to police.

The mayor said several of Crimo’s online postings “reflected a plan and a desire to commit carnage for a long time in advance.”

“And it’s one of those things where you step back and you say, ‘What happened? How did somebody become this angry, this hateful?’ To then take it out on innocent people who literally were just having a family day out,” Rotering added.

Rotering said the focus in the discussion about the shooting should be about “the fact that there are weapons of war on our streets, that people can legally obtain these and then take out dozens of people.” 

Dr. David Baum, who treated victims in the Highland Park shooting on Monday, described some of the horrific injuries he witnessed.

Baum and his wife were at the parade, and their grandson was a participant. When their family ran away from the shooting, the doctor ran toward the scene.

Baum said some of the dead were “blown up.”

Speaking as parade-goers’ belongings could be seen abandoned at the scene in the background, Baum said the suburban community in Illinois will never be the same.

“I grew up here, and I moved back here with my wife. We raised our kids here. My daughter and my son-in-law moved here because they were concerned about gun violence and carjackings in the city when they had their son. And now people are, you know, they’re scared to take their kids to nursery school. But what I saw was just families’ lives forever changed because they were walking down with their kids and their scooters and somebody who shouldn’t have had access to a high-powered rifle got up on a rooftop and decided to do what he wanted to do,” Baum said.

Robert E. Crimo III, identified by police as the person suspected of shooting and killing six people and wounding dozens of others at the July 4 parade, was arrested on Monday hours after the shooting.  

Debra Baum said people were killed within 30 seconds.

“Today, it’s just hitting me more how sad I am. And I’m also thinking we all have to change our behavior until this gets under control. I’m not going to a parade anymore. I’m not going to a sports event. I’m afraid for my grandson to go to school. We all have to change our behavior and not do the things we love to do because of this situation,” she said.

Alexander Sandoval

Alexander Sandoval ran with his son soon after hearing gunshots at the parade in Highland Park, Illinois, eventually hiding his son in a dumpster while he went back to find other family members, he told CNN affiliate WLS.

“I thought that it was the Navy that was saluting the flag with rifles, but then when I saw people running, I picked up my son and started running,” Sandoval said. “… We ran behind the building and I put my son in a dumpster and he sat there with his dog, and I went back to look for the rest of my family.”

Sandavol said he left his son with someone hiding behind the dumpster while he went to find the rest of his family who had also run away when the shooting started.

“I went back. There was a few people shot on the ground and there was a little boy that was in one of the police officers arms and that’s that was the worst experience ever. Because, you know, all I thought about was my son and I can only imagine what that family is going through,” he told WLS.

Jacki Sundheim

Jacki Sundheim has been identified by her synagogue as one of the six people killed in the Fourth of July parade shooting in Highland Park, Illinois.

The North Shore Congregation Israel in Glencoe, Illinois, said in a statement that Sundheim was a lifelong congregant of the synagogue and a member of staff, having been a preschool teacher and events coordinator.

“There are no words sufficient to express the depth of our grief for Jacki’s death and sympathy for her family and loved ones,” the statement said. “We know you join us in the deepest prayer that Jacki’s soul will be bound up in the shelter of God’s wings and her family will somehow find comfort and consolation amidst this boundless grief.”

A Lake County, Illinois, police officer walks down Central Avenue in Highland Park on July 4, after a shooter fired on the Fourth of July parade.

Shortly after 10 a.m. CT Monday, a gunman began firing into a crowd of people attending a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois, just north of Chicago. Six people were killed and dozens were wounded, officials say, and the suspect was later apprehended by police following a brief vehicle chase.

A day after gun violence rocked yet another American community, witnesses are processing the traumatic event and investigators are piecing together how it happened.

Here are the latest developments in the Highland Park parade shooting:

Suspect apparently posted violent imagery online: The suspected gunman, Robert E. Crimo III, posted music on several major streaming outlets and on a personal website under the name “Awake the Rapper,” featuring animated scenes of gun violence and ominous sounding lyrics. In one music video titled “Are you Awake,” Crimo is seen with multicolored hair and face tattoos and is narrating, “I need to just do it. It is my destiny.” The video shows a cartoon animation of a stick-figure man – who resembles Crimo – in tactical gear carrying out an attack with a rifle. The videos appear to have been posted online last year.

Suspect’s uncle saw no warning signs, he says: An uncle of the suspect told CNN he saw no warning signs that would prompt him to believe his nephew would have been involved in such a tragedy. “I’m heartbroken. I’m so heartbroken,” Paul A. Crimo said, expressing remorse for the families of the victims and adding he spoke at length to law enforcement Monday about his nephew. The suspect lives in an apartment behind the house owned by his father, Paul said, adding that he last saw his nephew Sunday evening looking at his computer and not acting out of the ordinary.

Former preschool teacher identified as one of the victims: Jacki Sundheim was identified as one of the people who died in the shooting by her synagogue. The North Shore Congregation Israel in Glencoe, Illinois, said in a statement that Sundheim was a lifelong congregant of the synagogue and a member of staff, having been a preschool teacher and events coordinator.

Senator says more must be done: Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the Senate majority whip, touted the recently passed bipartisan gun bill as an important step to combat gun violence, but said there are things the legislation didn’t address. “There is no reason for a person to own a military assault weapon. It has no value for hunting, or sports or even self-defense,” he said. “It is a killing machine.” The gun used in Monday’s shooting was a “high-powered rifle” and the attack appeared to be “random” and “intentional,” said Christopher Covelli, spokesperson for the Lake County Major Crime Task Force.

Larry Bloom, a Highland Park resident of 15 years, told CNN he had cycled to the parade and was standing just to the right of a bandstand when he heard a “pop, pop, pop.”

It was early in the celebrations and there were a lot of people present, Bloom said: “Just imagine a full audience for a parade, it was that many people. It was hundreds of people just in that area – just all running in the same direction,” he said.

The shots felt like they were coming from across the street and aimed at the area of the crowd he was in, Bloom said, though it was hard for him to establish where the gunman was.

Police have said firearm evidence was found on the rooftop of a nearby business.

When the gunshots stopped and it cleared out and the police moved in, most people left the area, Bloom said.

Read more about the aftermath of the shooting here:

HIGHLAND PARK, IL - JULY 04: First responders work the scene of a shooting at a Fourth of July parade on July 4, 2022 in Highland Park, Illinois. Reports indicate at least five people were killed and 19 injured in the mass shooting. (Photo by Jim Vondruska/Getty Images)

Related article July Fourth celebrations in Highland Park, Illinois, end in terror after mass shooting leaves 6 dead and dozens injured | CNN

Chicago White Sox manager Tony La Russa, left, and his coaches bow their heads during a moment of silence at Guaranteed Rate Field for the victims of a Fourth of July parade shooting in nearby Highland Park, Ill., on July 4.

Following Monday’s deadly mass shooting at a parade in nearby Highland Park, many of Chicago’s sports teams gave statements expressing their sympathies to the victims and community.

MLB’s Chicago White Sox canceled a planned post-game fireworks celebration Monday due to the shooting and held a moment of silence before they took the field against the Minnesota Twins.

Other teams that posted statements of support include, in part:

CNN’s Jill Martin and David Close contributed to this post.

Steve Tilken told CNN he sheltered in a store basement with his wife, her two grandchildren and dozens of others as police scoured the area for the gunman during Monday’s shooting.

The Highland Park resident told CNN he initially thought someone was letting off a series of fireworks, but his wife’s 13 year-old granddaughter had undergone active shooter training at school and “all of a sudden hit the ground sobbing.” She also brought her brother to the ground, Tilken said.

Tilken said they ran into the nearby store when he realized they were unprotected and in the line of fire.

Around 20 people were sheltering in different areas of the basement, including two women who appeared to have minor injuries from bullet grazes, Tilken said.

He said he went out of the store at one stage to try to see what was happening and saw a body “in a pool of blood,” about eight feet from where he was standing.

Police carrying assault weapons later entered the basement looking for the shooter, Tilken said, and then brought a doctor to assess those with injuries.

Read more about what witnesses encountered here:

Law enforcement officers investigate the scene of a mass shooting at a 4th of July celebration and parade in Highland Park, Illinois, USA, 04 July 2022. A gunman opened fire as people gathered to watch a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois, killing at least six people and injuring dozens. Highland Park, Illinois, USA 4th of July parade shooting - 04 Jul 2022

Related article 'People just falling and falling': Witnesses describe terror at Illinois parade shooting

A day of national celebration turned to tragedy Monday when a gunman killed six people and injured dozens of others at a July Fourth parade in Highland Park, Illinois – leaving the nation grieving yet another mass shooting.

Bystanders initially thought the sound of gunfire that pierced the sunny parade just after 10 a.m. CT along the town’s Central Avenue, about 25 miles north of Chicago, was fireworks, until hundreds of attendees started to flee in terror – abandoning strollers, chairs and American-flag paraphernalia strewn on the streets.

Eyewitnesses described grabbing their children and families and running for their lives, some hiding behind dumpsters or in nearby stores for safety amid the chaos. One parade-goer described seeing a girl shot and killed, another saw a man shot in the ear with blood all over his face.

“It looked like a battle zone, and it’s disgusting. It’s really disgusting,” Zoe Pawelczak, who attended the Independence Day parade with her father, said.

Read more about what happened at the parade here:

HIGHLAND PARK, IL - JULY 04: First responders work the scene of a shooting at a Fourth of July parade on July 4, 2022 in Highland Park, Illinois. Reports indicate at least five people were killed and 19 injured in the mass shooting. (Photo by Jim Vondruska/Getty Images)

Related article July Fourth celebrations in Highland Park, Illinois, end in terror after mass shooting leaves 6 dead and dozens injured | CNN

Six people were killed Monday after a gunman opened fire at a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois, authorities said.

Five of those who were killed died at the scene, all of whom were adults, said Lake County Coroner Jennifer Banek. Another person died after they were transported to a local hospital, she said. Authorities are working to notify the victims’ families and have not publicly identified those who were killed.

A total of 26 patients were received at Highland Park Hospital, according to Dr. Brigham Temple, medical director of NorthShore University Health System. Of those tended to at that location, 25 sustained gunshot wounds, Temple said. Ten of those treated arrived by ambulance, he said, and 19 of the 25 gunshot victims have been discharged.

The patients there ranged in age from 8 years old to 85 years old, according to Temple, and four or five of the patients were children.

Five others were transported to Evanston Hospital, according to spokesperson Jim Anthony with the NorthShore University Health System.

US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden take a moment of silence for the victims of the Highland Park shooting during a Fourth of July BBQ at the White House in Washington, DC, on Monday.

President Joe Biden began Independence Day by sharing a message that looked to the country’s future, but quickly had to respond to another mass shooting in the United States.

Biden noted that he had “surged Federal law enforcement to assist in the urgent search for the shooter,” and pointed to the gun safety legislation he recently signed into law.

Read more about Biden’s reaction here.

The person of interest in Highland Park mass shooting is 22-year-old Robert E. Crimo III.

Robert E. Crimo III, identified by police as the person suspected of shooting and killing six people and wounding dozens of others Monday morning at a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois, has been arrested, authorities said Monday evening.

Police believe the suspected gunman opened fire shortly after 10 a.m. CT from the rooftop of a business near the parade route. The gun was a “high-powered rifle” and the attack appeared to be “random” and “intentional,” said Christopher Covelli, spokesperson for the Lake County Major Crime Task Force.

Here’s what we know about the suspected gunman:

A man carries his belongings after a mass shooting at the Highland Park Fourth of July parade in downtown Highland Park, Illinois, on Monday.

America’s latest mass shooting turned a cherished July Fourth parade from a scene of patriotic joy into one of fear and death.

The rapid bursts of a high-powered rifle brought the chilling reality that no one can be sure they are safe, anywhere, to one of the nation’s most unifying gatherings.

In that instant, Highland Park joined Uvalde, Columbine, Newtown and Parkland and a long list of cities and towns known across the country for the massacre of innocents in a gun violence contagion that makes the United States an outlier in developed societies.

Television pictures Monday of police vehicles in Highland Park rushing to help beneath a billowing American flag added an ironic, new dimension to this latest horror. It took place as Americans gathered to celebrate the 246th anniversary of the freedoms inherent in American independence.

Yet what unfolded encapsulated the quintessentially American cycle of death by firearms. When a gunman killed three people in a mall shooting in Copenhagen, Denmark, over the weekend, it was shocking because it was unusual. But while Monday’s shooting outside Chicago was unexpected, another mass shooting in the US was hardly a surprise.

Read the full analysis here:

A man carries his belongings after a mass shooting at the Highland Park Fourth of July parade in downtown Highland Park, Ill., a Chicago suburb on Monday, July 4, 2022. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Related article Analysis: July 4 parade slaughter again shows nowhere is safe from America's mass killing contagion

The shooting deaths of six people at a parade in Illinois was one of several mass shootings over the Fourth of July holiday weekend in the US, according to data compiled by the Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit that tracks gun violence incidents across the country.

As of July 5, there have been at least 311 mass shootings since the beginning of the year, according to the archive. July 5 is the 186th day of 2022.

The Gun Violence Archive, like CNN, defines a mass shooting as one in which at least four people are shot, excluding the shooter.

Last year was the worst year on record since the Gun Violence Archive began tracking mass shootings in 2014. There were a total of 692 mass shootings in the US in 2021, the nonprofit says.

An aerial photo shows law enforcement officers investigating the scene at the Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois, on Monday.

At least six people were killed in a mass shooting at a July Fourth parade in Highland Park, Illinois, located about 25 miles north of Chicago.

A suspect, identified by police as Robert E. Crimo III, has been arrested after being spotted driving following the shooting and led police on a brief chase, authorities said.

Here are the latest developments:

First responders work the scene of a shooting at a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois, on Monday.

At least six people were killed and more than 20 were wounded in a shooting at a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois. It marks at least the 308th mass shooting in the US this year, according to data compiled by the Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit tracking such incidents.

A suspect, identified by police as Robert E. Crimo III, has been arrested after a manhunt and brief chase from police ended without further incident, authorities said.

Here’s what we know so far about the shooting:

Suspected gunman Robert “Bobby” Crimo III posted online music videos he apparently made that featured ominous sounding lyrics and animated scenes of gun violence. 

In one video titled “Are you Awake,” Crimo is seen with multicolored hair and face tattoos and is narrating, “I need to just do it. It is my destiny.”

The video shows a cartoon animation of a stick-figure man – who resembles Crimo – in tactical gear carrying out an attack with a rifle. 

In another video titled “Toy Soldier,” a similar stick-figure cartoon character resembling Crimo is depicted lying face down on the floor in a pool of his own blood, surrounded by police officers with their guns drawn.

Crimo, who calls himself “Awake the Rapper,” posted his music on several major streaming outlets and on a personal website. The Facebook and Twitter accounts believed to belong to Crimo were taken down after he was named as a person of interest in the mass shooting that killed at least six people. His Facebook profile photo showed him wearing a helmet with a camera mount, a face cover and a multicolored jacket.

On September 24, he posted a video on Twitter that shows him sitting on a set resembling a classroom, wearing a helmet and posing in various scenes while an instrumental arrangement of “When Johnny Comes Marching Home” plays in the background.

He had not posted on Twitter since October 26, 2021, when he wrote, “I am not a robot.”

In yet another music video for a song titled “On My Mind,” Crimo performs in a classroom set filled with desks, lockers and chalkboards. In the last minute of the video, the viewers see a shot of Crimo reaching into his backpack before the music abruptly cuts. Then, Crimo is seen wearing a helmet and a tactical vest, dropping bullets onto the floor of the classroom, with the music from a popular shooting video game, “Call of Duty,” playing over the scene. 

The videos appear to have been posted online last year.

Miles Zaremski, a Highland Park, Illinois, resident, told CNN he was walking to the Fourth of July parade when he heard a “pop” and thought that maybe a car backfired.

“And then there were multiple pops,” he told CNN’s Katilan Collins. “I’d say I heard maybe, and I’m guessing, about 30 pops. There was a pause in between, a set of pops, and then a second set of pops. And then the crowd that was on either side of [Central Ave.] started rushing, a stampede like, going west, which is against me,” he explained.

Jeff Leon, 57, told CNN on Monday he heard what he believes were gunshots ring out minutes into the start of the parade.

Leon said the shot sounded like “firecrackers in a garbage can,” and it wasn’t until he saw police officers reacting, that he knew anything had happened.

Zoe Pawelczak said many parade-goers initially thought the array of pops were fireworks given the occasion.

Pawelczak and her father hid behind a dumpster for about an hour until police moved them into a sporting goods store, she said, and then eventually escorted them back to their car. She saw one person who had been shot in the ear and had blood all over his face, and another girl who was shot in the leg, she said.

“It looked like a battle zone, and it’s disgusting. It’s really disgusting,” she said.

Read more about what witnesses saw here:

Law enforcement officers investigate the scene of a mass shooting at a 4th of July celebration and parade in Highland Park, Illinois, USA, 04 July 2022. A gunman opened fire as people gathered to watch a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois, killing at least six people and injuring dozens. Highland Park, Illinois, USA 4th of July parade shooting - 04 Jul 2022

Related article 'People just falling and falling': Witnesses describe terror at Illinois parade shooting

CNN’s Shawn Nottingham, Brynn Gingras, Sarah Moon and Dakin Andone contributed to this post.

Monday’s deadly shooting was an American tragedy, Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin said during a visit to Highland Park.

“What happened at the parade and all the poor victims and those who were killed in the process breaks my heart,” he said.

Durbin, the Senate majority whip, touted the recently passed bipartisan gun bill as an important step, but said there are things it didn’t address.

“There is no reason for a person to own a military assault weapon. It has no value for hunting, or sports or even self-defense,” he said. “It is a killing machine.”

He said he was on vacation and drove seven hours to get to Highland Park as soon as he heard about the shooting.

The senator said it was a day people will remember for a long time.

After praising the efforts of first responders, Durbin said: “It was the best of America with those (emergency responders) that I just described, it was the worst of America that a man took a rifle – a high velocity rifle – and turned it on innocent people and ruined lives and ruined many families in many ways.”

Durbin also urged people to vote in elections.

“If you’re sick and tired of that and think that’s not what America should be all about, elect people who feel like you do,” he said.