The number of fatalities in the mass shooting at a July 4 parade in Highland Park, Illinois has risen to seven, local authorities confirmed to several US media.
Robert Crimo, the one arrested for the massacre during Independence Day in Highland Park (Illinois, USA) with 7 dead and 30 wounded, planned the attack for weeks and he was disguised as a woman so as not to raise suspicions, authorities reported Tuesday.
Lake County Sheriff’s Department Deputy Chief, Christopher Covelli, He specified that Crimo is 21 years old and not 22 as had been indicated the day before, and that at the moment his motivations are unknown.
“We believe he planned this attack for weeks. He was carrying a high-powered rifle to the parade, accessed the roof of a store through the fire escape. After this, he began to open fire on the innocent people attending the Independence Day celebration,” Covelli said at a news conference.
It added that the suspect, who acted alone, dressed as a woman to hide his facial tattoos and his identity.
Massacre on Independence Day
The authorities have interviewed witnesses and survivors of the event and have reviewed video recordings made with cell phones.
Covelli explained that the alleged attacker, who fired more than 70 times into the crowd, he had purchased the gun “legally” in Illinois.
After the shooting, Crimo left the roof from which he fired, threw down his rifle and mingled with the crowd as if he were just another parade goer, to go to the house of his mother, who lives in the area.
There he took his mother’s vehicle to escape but was intercepted when trying to flee. Inside that car, police found a second rifle.
One month ago, 19 children and 2 teachers died for the shooting of an 18-year-old boy who broke into an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, with a semi-automatic rifle that he had purchased legally.
Following that attack and another in Buffalo, New York, with 10 dead, the country’s Congress approved in June increasing control over firearms, with a minimum agreement between Democrats and Republicans.