A 21-year-old man is in custody after a massive manhunt to track down a rooftop gunman who shot and killed six people at the Highland Park parade Monday Fourth of July parade Monday.
Police said earlier they were seeking a 21-year-old person of interest driving a 2010 silver Honda fit with license plate number DM 80653. The shooter has been described as a young white man, age 18-20, of small build, with longer than normal dark hair and wearing either a blue or white T-shirt.
The Daily Herald is not identifying the man, who has not yet been charged but is described as the “prime suspect.”
Witnesses described scenes of panic and chaos as shots ran out at 10:14 a.m. Paradegoers report they first thought the noise was fireworks, and upon realizing there was shooting they grabbed their kids and ran away as fast as they could, leaving lawn chairs, strollers, and bags of belongings strewed on the sidewalks.
Lake County Coroner Jennifer Banek said five victims, all adults, died on the street, and at least one person died at Highland Park Hospital. The age of that victim is not known.
Numbers of the wounded varied, but included a critically injured child.
According to the Washinton Post, NorthShore Highland Park Hospital treated 26 patients following the shooting while five others were treated at the NorthShore Evanston Hospital, a trauma center, spokesperson Jim Anthony said in a statement, describing the “vast majority” as gunshot victims.
Other patients were treated at Northwestern Lake Forest Hospital and Advocate Lutheran General Hospital.
At a news conference Monday, Gov. J.B. Pritzker pledged that every state resource would be at Highland Park’s disposal as authorities investigate. He and Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rottering received calls of federal support from President Joe Biden, they said.
While July 4 is celebrated once a year, Pritzker pointed out, mass shootings occur weekly in the U.S.
“It is devastating that a celebration of America was ripped apart by our uniquely American plague,” Pritzker said.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, a U.S. Army veteran who lost both legs and the partial use of her right arm in 2004 when the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter she was piloting in Iraq was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade referenced the weapon authorities say the shooter used and the sound it makes.
“The last time I heard a weapon of that capacity firing that rapidly on the 4th of July was Iraq,” said Duckworth during a joint news conference with Pritzker.
Authorities confirm a high-powered rifle believed to have been involved in the massacre has been recovered from the rooftop. Deputy Chief Chris Covelli, spokesman for the Lake County Major Crime Task force, said they believe the shooter got access to the roof by a non-secured ladder in the alley of the building.
“It’s impossible to imagine the pain of this kind of tragedy until you’re confronted with it,” Rottering said.
People in the downtown area who were sheltering in place are being evacuated by SWAT teams. Authorities said those remaining in the downtown area should continue to shelter in place, as they consider the shooter to be armed and dangerous. Armed officers have been seen going door to door in downtown Highland Park.
Eyewitnesses describe a scene of panic and chaos as the shooting broke out at 10:14 a.m. Paradegoers report they first thought the noise was fireworks, and upon realizing there was shooting they grabbed their kids and ran away as fast as they could, leaving lawn chairs, strollers, and bags of belongings strewed on the sidewalks.
Highland Park police and firefighter/paramedics responded about 10:15 a.m. to a report of an active shooter around 2nd Street and Central Avenue.
An eyewitness told WBBM: “We heard what we thought were fireworks, about 15, and then we look up and see people running. It looked like a war zone. People were crying, screaming, and no one knew what was going on.”
Highland Park Fire Chief Joe Schrage said bystanders acted quickly in tying tourniquets on the injured before paramedics arrived. Both police and fire officials responded quickly, he said.
Meanwhile, authorities are asking any paradegoers who took photos and video to study their material for any images that might help investigators. They are asking business owners in the vicinity to check their surveillance tapes as well. Individuals with knowledge of the shooting, including photos or video, are encouraged to call the FBI at (800) CALL-FBI.
Highland Park High School band members and football players participating in the parade, along with staff members and coaches are all safe an accounted for, Township High School District 113 Superintendent Bruce Law said.
All students have been reunited with their parents, Law said.
Counseling will be available for students and staff members at Deerfield High School where summer school is in session.
“There’s been an outpouring of support from area school districts and counseling resources,” Law said. “We are most grateful for their support.”
At a news conference held at the command center for emergency responders set up next to Highland Park Fire Station #33, Rottering said offers of assistance have poured in from all over the region. “We are accepting all offers of help,” she said.
“Six people have lost their lives and we are grieving for them and their families,” she said.
State Sen. Julie Morrison, a Lake Forest Democrat who attended the parade with her family, referenced the normalization of gun violence which she blamed on “elected officials who have the power to put their constituents’ lives ahead of the gun lobby but fail to do so every chance they get.”
“Instead we have a Supreme Court that just put our country on a path to even more guns on our streets and a Congress that’s patting themselves on the back over a watered down gun reform package that does little to stop the death sentence that is life in America right now,” Morrison said.
Two weeks ago The Supreme Court struck down a New York law prohibiting citizens from carrying firearms in public for self-defense, ruling it violates the Second Amendment. The previous law required people to demonstrate a particular need in order to get a license to carry a gun in a concealed way in public.
“Even in Highland Park, a town with some of the strictest gun laws in Illinois, lives are at risk from the lack of gun control,” Morrison said in a prepared statement.
“The only way we can end this crisis is for our state and federal government to pass the laws that we’ve all been demanding. Until that happens, we are not safe anywhere — not at our places of worship, our schools, our community gatherings,” Morrison said.
Covelli said the Lake County Major Crime Task force and the FBI are involved in the investigation.
Fourth of July activities have been canceled or postponed across the suburbs, in deference to the tragedy and to the fact that the suspect is still at large. Cancellations were reported, Deerfield, Glenview, Northbrook, Skokie, Arlington Heights, Buffalo Grove, Elgin and many others suburbs.
The Lake County sheriff’s office said their officers were assisting Highland Park police.
Eyewitnesses were calling WBBM 780 radio to report what they saw.
One told WBBM that at first, people thought it was fireworks.
“It took people 10-15 seconds to realize this was actually happening,” he took WBBM. He looked up, he said, and saw “the tree getting pelted with bullets, and I could see the shooter.”
People fled, leaving everything behind. The eyewitness said he and his family hid behind cars in a parking lot before making their way to their car.
At his news conference, Pritzker pointed out that America’s Founding Fathers, who crafted the U.S. constitution, “carried muskets, not assault rifles.”
“If you’re angry today, I’m telling you to be angry,” Pritzker said. “I’m furious. … because it does not have to be this way.”
• The Associated Press contributed to this report.