The alleged perpetrator of the killings during National Day celebrations in Highland Park had been planning his attack “for weeks”, and he disguised himself as a woman so as not to be identified, police in this small town said on Tuesday. city near Chicago.
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Robert Crimo, 21, used a “powerful rifle similar to an AR-15” to apparently randomly fire on 4th of July parade participants from the roof of a business, said Christopher Covelli, an official with the police at a press conference.
“We think he’s been planning this attack for weeks,” he said.
He had “dressed as a woman” to hide his identity, and he may have worn a long hair wig to hide his facial tattoos, he said, adding that he then dropped his gun and walked away. mingled with the crowd fleeing the parade.
The young man fired more than 70 times into the crowd, killing six adults and injuring at least 30 people.
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As of Tuesday morning, Main Street in this affluent Chicago suburb was still blocked by police and frozen in the opening moments of the shooting.
A stroller, a tricycle, folding chairs: the quantity of objects left pell-mell abandoned around the scene of the tragedy testified to the chaos generated by the gunshots on Monday.
The Dr David Baum, a doctor who took part in the rescue operations at the scene, testified to the horror of the attack.
“The horrible sight of some bodies is unbearable for a normal person,” he said on CNN, referring to victims “exploded” or “eviscerated” by the bullets.
“It’s my destiny”
Originally from the small town near Highwood, the shooter was identified thanks to surveillance videos and tracing of the weapon he had legally purchased, Covelli said.
He was arrested on Monday by the police, who had released a photo of a diaphanous young man with an emaciated and tattooed face.
He did not explain his act, but a video published eight months ago shows a young man in a bedroom and a classroom with posters of a gunman and people being shot.
It contains 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.”
Images archived on the suspect’s Twitter account show him in particular with a flag of support for former Republican President Donald Trump on his back.
Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering told NBC that she knew the young man when he was a boy in the Boy Scouts.
“Sadness”
“This is where you have to reflect and ask yourself what happened: how can someone become angry, full of hatred, to the point of attacking innocent people who spend a day in family?” she said.
The city councilor spoke of “the incredible sadness and shock” that hit the city. “It should never have happened in our small town where everyone knows someone who was directly affected” by the tragedy.
Paul Crimo, the suspect’s uncle, told CNN on Tuesday that he saw “no signs that would explain what he did.”
National Day celebrations have been canceled in several surrounding towns, without preventing violence.
In Philadelphia, two police officers were injured after being targeted during the July 4 fireworks display.
The country is still in shock after a series of shootings, one of which was perpetrated by an 18-year-old young man at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, which left 21 people dead, including 19 children, May 24.
President Joe Biden ordered flags on public buildings to be lowered to half-mast on Tuesday. He recently achieved relative political success by having Congress pass a law aimed at better regulating the sale of weapons, of which nearly 400 million are in circulation in the United States.
According to the Gun Violence Archive, which includes suicides in its data, more than 22,400 people have been killed by firearms since the start of the year.