What happened ?
A man fired into a crowd gathered at a parade in Highland Park, near Chicago, in the north of the United States, for the American national holiday on July 4 on Monday, killing at least six people and injuring at least 26 .
On this holiday Monday, hundreds of people, including many families with children, took their places on the sidewalks to attend the festivities.
The shooter had posted himself on the roof of a business in this wealthy city of 30,000 inhabitants, located on the shores of Lake Michigan, sowing panic before fleeing.
“We heard about 50 shots, we all thought they were fireworks,” a woman who witnessed the tragedy commented on CNN. “At one point, I saw a girl covered in blood, I had never seen that,” she added, describing a “panic, with people falling one after the other.” She hid behind a trash can before being sheltered in a basement. On leaving, she discovered “a battlefield”.
After a brief car chase, the suspect was arrested “without incident”, Highland Park Police Chief Lou Jogmen told reporters Monday evening.
The authorities had deployed a huge security device with armored vehicles and federal reinforcements.
The reactions
“It’s damning that a party in honor of America is sabotaged by a quintessentially American scourge,” said Illinois Democratic Governor JB Pritzker. “The only freedom we deny our citizens is to live without the daily fear of guns. »
Saying he was “shocked”, Democratic President Joe Biden for his part promised in a press release to “not give up the fight against the epidemic of gun violence” after this new bloodbath.
“My heart breaks for the people of Highland Park, Illinois who just wanted to celebrate their country this morning, but saw their lives changed forever,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin wrote on Twitter. Trudeau.
Who is the suspect?
The police have identified a suspect, Robert – known as “Bobby” – Crimo, 21 years old and “from the region”. She posted the photo of a diaphanous young man, with an emaciated and tattooed face.
According to the first elements of the investigation, the man has several pages on the internet, where he is presented as a musician from Chicago nicknamed “Awake the rapper”. According to the local newspaper Chicago Grandstand, a video posted eight months ago shows a young man in a bedroom and classroom with posters of a gunman and people being shot at. And an audio commentary: “I just need to do this”, then “it’s my destiny. Everything led me to this. Nothing can stop me, not even myself,” the newspaper reported.
Later in the day, a local police official said the shooter had been “planning his attack for weeks”. He used a “power rifle” that appears to have been purchased legally at the parade and presumably fired randomly at attendees from atop a business roof. He had “dressed as a woman” to hide his identity and flee the scene more easily, police added.
Who are the victims?
Five people, all adults, died on the spot and a sixth after being transferred to hospital. At least 26 injured, aged 8 to 85, were taken care of by the emergency services and some, including at least one child, were in critical condition, according to a hospital official.