A dark national holiday. A shooting Monday in Highland Park, in the northern UNITED STATES, killed at least six people and injured twenty-four. The killings took place during a parade for American Independence Day, according to local officials quoted by the media.
Police have arrested a suspect. Previously hundreds of police had searched for the young man who had fired on the crowd gathered in this wealthy city of 30,000 inhabitants, located on the shores of Lake Michigan, near Chicago. The festivities have also been suspended in Highland Park and in several surrounding towns.
A “powerful” rifle found
The shooting broke out as hundreds of people gathered to attend the traditional July 4 parade, which celebrates the declaration of independence of the United States in 1776. According to the first elements of the investigation, the shooter fired from the roof of a business, accessible by an emergency staircase. He immediately fled but a “powerful” rifle was found by the police.
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.
Joe Biden «shocked»
Before his arrest, the police had identified a suspect, Robert – known as “Bobby” – Crimo, 22 years old and “from the region”. She had released the photo of a diaphanous young man, with an emaciated and tattooed face. The man has several pages on the Internet, where he is presented as a musician from Chicago nicknamed “Awake the rapper”.
Saying he was “shocked”, President Joe Biden for his part promised to “not give up the fight against the epidemic of gun violence” after this new bloodbath. The country is indeed facing an increase in gun violence with more than 22,000 people killed since the beginning of the year, according to the Gun Violence Archive website, which incorporates suicides in its data.