Parade shooter fired 70 shots, cops say; toll hits 7
The man charged Tuesday with opening fire at an Independence Day parade in suburban Chicago legally bought five weapons, including two high-powered rifles despite authorities being called to his home twice in 2019 for threats of violence and suicide, police said.
Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart said the suspect, if convicted of the seven first-degree murder charges, would receive a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole. He promised that dozens of more charges would be sought.
A spokesman for the Lake County Major Crime Task Force said the suspected shooter, who was arrested late Monday, used a rifle “similar to an AR-15“to spray more than 70 rounds from atop a commercial building into a crowd that had gathered for the parade in Highland Park, an affluent community of about 30,000 on the Lake Michigan shore.
Two-year-old Aiden McCarthy’s photo was shared across Chicago-area social-media groups after the shooting, accompanied by pleas to help identify the boy who had been found at the scene bloodied and alone and to reunite him with his family.
On Tuesday, friends and authorities confirmed that the boy’s parents, Kevin McCarthy, 37, and Irina McCarthy, 35, were among the seven people killed.
Four of other others who were killed were identified as Katherine Goldstein, 64; Jacquelyn Sundheim, 63; Stephen Straus, 88; and
Nicolas Toledo-Zaragoza, 78. Every victim was from Highland Park except for Toledo-Zaragoza, who was visiting family. He was from Morelos, Mexico.
Officials haven’t yet to identify the seventh victim.
Nine people, ranging from 14 to 70, remained hospitalized, hospital officials said.
The assault happened less than three years after police went to the suspect’s home following a call from a family member who said he was threatening “to kill everyone” there. Taskforce spokesman Christopher Covelli said police confiscated 16 knives, a dagger and a sword but said there was no sign he had any guns at the time in September 2019.
Police in April 2019 also responded to a reported suicide attempt by the suspect, Covelli said.
The suspect legally purchased the rifle used in the attack in Illinois within the past year, Covelli said. In all, police said, he purchased five firearms, which were recovered by officers at his father’s home.
Illinois state police, who issue gun owners’ licenses, said the gunman applied for a license in December 2019, when he was 19. His father sponsored his application.
At the time, “there was insufficient basis to establish a clear and present danger” and deny the application, state police said in a statement.
Covelli said the suspect had planned the attack for several weeks.
Investigators who have interrogated the suspect and reviewed his socialmedia posts have not determined a motive or found any indication that he targeted victims by race, religion or other protected
status, Covelli said.
Earlier in the day, FBI agents peeked into trash cans and under picnic blankets as they searched for more evidence along the parade route. The shots were initially mistaken for fireworks before hundreds of revelers fled in terror.
A day later, baby strollers, lawn chairs and other items left behind by panicked parade-goers remained inside a wide police perimeter. Outside the police tape, some residents drove up to collect blankets and chairs that they had abandoned.
David Shapiro, 47, said the gunfire quickly turned the parade into “chaos.”
“People didn’t know right away where the gunfire was coming from, whether the gunman was in front or behind you chasing you,” he said Tuesday as he retrieved a stroller and lawn chairs.
The gunman initially evaded capture by dressing as a woman and blending into the fleeing crowd, Covelli said.
The shooting was just the latest to shatter the rituals of American life. Schools, churches, grocery stores and now community parades have all become killing grounds in recent months.
“It definitely hits a lot harder when it’s not only your hometown but it’s also right in front of you,” resident Ron Tuazon said as he and a friend returned to the parade route Monday evening
to retrieve chairs, blankets and a child’s bike that his family abandoned when the shooting began.
“It’s commonplace now,” Tuazon said. “We don’t blink any more. Until
laws change, it’s going to be more of the same.”
A police officer pulled over 21-year-old Robert E. Crimo III north of the shooting scene several hours after police released his photo and warned that he was likely armed and dangerous, Highland Park Police Chief Lou Jogmen said.
His father, Bob, a longtime deli owner, ran for mayor in 2019. The candidate who won that race, Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering, said she knew Crimo as a boy in Cub Scouts.
“And it’s one of those things where you step back and you say, ‘What happened?’ ” Rotering told NBC’s “Today” show. “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?”
Crimo’s attorney, Thomas A. Durkin, a prominent Chicago-based lawyer, said he intends to enter a not-guilty plea to all charges.
Asked about his client’s emotional state, Durkin said he has spoken to Crimo only once — for 10 minutes by phone. He declined to comment further.