Suspect caught in mass shooting at American Independence Day celebration
Yesterday was the 4th of July, American Independence Day, but in Chicago’s Highland Park suburb, celebrations were marred by an all-too-familiar American phenomenon: a mass shooting. Police have now taken a suspect into custody for an attack on a 4th of July parade where a man opened fire with a high-powered rifle, killing 6 people and injuring at least 36 others.
Mass shootings have become a daily event in the US, with over 300 occurring just in the first half of 2022. Yesterday marked another jarring tragedy when a man began shooting from a rooftop into a crowded holiday parade. Onlookers reported small children jumping off their tricycles and parents desperately trying to keep their kids safe amidst the pandemonium of the mass shooting. Most of the injuries were gunshot wounds and 26 victims as young as age 8 and as old as 85 were treated at the nearby Highland Park Hospital.
Now the Lake County Sheriff’s Office report that they’ve captured their suspect, Robert E Crimo III, a local 22 year old man. He was apprehended driving a silver 2010 Honda Fit car and a rifle was found at the scene of his arrest. Wanted posters had described him as a skinny, bearded man with tattoos on his face and neck, standing about 180cm.
He had self-released rap songs under the name “Awake the Rapper”, though it appears his SoundCloud and Spotify pages have been removed. Apple Music still has a song online featuring Crimo called “The Day I Die.”
Police say so far there’s no known motive for the mass shooting, yet another high-profile tragedy for a country that is still reeling from the shooting in Uvalde, Texas on May 24 that left 19 school kids and 2 teachers dead. The governor of Illinois said mass shootings need to end, while President Joe Biden requested a moment of silence during 4th of July festivities.
Mass shootings like this frequently spark impassioned political debates on gun control in the US, but rarely result in any fundamental changes.
SOURCE: The Nation
