The media are reporting that five people have been shot and killed at the 4th of July Parade in Highland Park, a northern suburb of Chicago. In addition to those killed an unknown number were also shot. The shootings took place around 2nd and Central in the downtown part of Highland Park.
As of this writing it is being characterized as an active shooter situation.
Highland Park is a prosperous suburb about 15 miles north of here. That’s almost as far north of here as Lawndale and Englewood, where most Chicago shootings take place, are south. The contrast between Highland Park and Englewood couldn’t be more stark. Highland Park is mostly white and college educated. 11% of Highland Park’s population are immigrants, mostly Asian. Median family income is around $150,000. The average house costs around a half million. Englewood is just as black as Highland Park is white. Median family income is around $36,000. Almost all residents are native born. The price of the average single family home is aournd $92,000.
No word on the shooter or his motive.
I’ll update as more information becomes available.
Update
As of 1:00pm it is being reported that a firearm has been recovered from the scene and that the suspected shooter is a white male, 18 to 25 20 years of age. He has not been apprehended. It is being reported that the number killed is 6 with the number injured 19 24 31. I’ll keep updating.
Update 2
From ABC 7 Chicago:
Multiple agencies are searching door-to-door for a white male suspect, 18 to 20 years old, with longer black hair, a small build and wearing a white or blue shirt.
A gun was recovered at the scene, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is urgent tracing it to find the original purchaser of the firearm.
The ATF told the ABC7 Chicago I-Team “that will tell us a lot” about “where and when it was purchased and by whom.”
Right now my money is on the perpetrator having escaped. If the rifle (“gun”) recovered at the scene is, indeed, the firearm used in the shooting and if it was obtained legally and if it can be traced back to the perpetrator, they may be able to identify and find the perpetrator yet but that’s a lot of “ifs” starting to build up.
Update 3
The “person of interest” was identified as Robert “Bobby” Crimo, known professionally as “Awake the Rapper”. He has been apprehended after a brief car chase. Frankly, I think there will be more to this story.
I checked the guy’s Facebook page (before it was shut down) and Twitter feed. People were posting lots of irate stuff on both. Someone has posted his 2018 rap video on Youtube.com. Not a fan. It’s pretty weird stuff.
Another reference point for Highland Park is that it’s where most of John Hughes teen movies from the 80s took place or were filmed, like Cameron’s house and Ferrari garage in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
You may want to also mention the significant Jewish population. That may become relevant.
Although Highland Park has something of a reputation as a Jewish town only about 2.7% of its population is Jewish. By comparison about 30% is Roman Catholic. Nearly as many Muslims as Jews.
Weird looking guy.
https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/highland-park-july-4-parade-mass-shooting-active-shooter-at-large-person-of-interest-robert-bobby-crimo-iii-photo-released/
Steve
If you think his pictures are weird-looking, you should take a gander at his rap video. He looks ill.
He is ill. This is a recurring theme, and I’m not sure addressable by red flag laws. Police reportedly knew of him.:
Robert “Bobby†E. Crimo III, the person of interest identified by police after Monday’s shooting in a Chicago suburb that killed six people and wounded 38 others, left a long trail of tributes to mass shootings and public killings on social media platforms, according to numerous profiles that appear to belong to him.
Crimo performed as a rapper who went by the name “Awake,†whose recent music videos included depictions of mass murder.
Crimo’s most recent video posted to YouTube showed him in the aftermath of a school shooting. It ends with Crimo draping himself in an American flag. Another music video showed a cartoon depiction of a man wearing a shirt with his YouTube channel’s logo on it, holding a long gun and being shot by police.
The YouTube account that hosted his videos, which had previously been accessible to the public, was unavailable Monday night.
Crimo had his own Discord server, where fans and people who knew him would chat. The community featured a politics board filled with nihilistic political memes. The most recent post before the shooting, which was posted in March, was a picture of Budd Dwyer, the Pennsylvania state treasurer who shot and killed himself on live television in the late 1980s, along with the caption “I wish politicians still gave speeches like this.â€
On Discord, fans would share posts that Crimo had made of himself. One apparent selfie Crimo took in March reads: “Cursed image screenshot and send to everyone or commit not alive anymore,†a reference to suicide.
If its only 3% Jewish I’m behind the times. Way behind the times.
” a picture of Budd Dwyer, the Pennsylvania state treasurer who shot and killed himself on live television in the late 1980s, along with the caption “I wish politicians still gave speeches like this.—
I suspect you realize this is not uncommon on the internet. People saying they want politicians killed or wish they were dead are just ignored, unless they are applauded, since they are pretty common.
Steve