22-year-old Robert (“Bobby”) Krimo the third, a resident of the area, 22 years old, is said to be the perpetrator of the armed attack with the six dead.
American police have confirmed that they have detained the alleged assailant very deadly attack against people who participated in or watched the 4th of July national holiday parade in Highland Park, suburb of Chicago.
The account thus far of the attack, committed with powerful rifle from the roof of the trading store, there are 6 dead and 26 injured. The alleged assailant has been identified as Robert (“Bobby”) Krimo the third, a 22-year-old resident of the area.
The tragedy in the state of Illinois (north) unfolded as the US has yet to recover from the shock of the recent spate of massacres using firearms.
Hundreds of police have joined the manhunt to track down the young man who spread death and terror to the residents of the well-to-do city of about 30,000, which is washed by Lake Michigan. Authorities released a photo of the young white man with a bony face and various tattoos.
The 22-year-old was described as “armed and very dangerous” by a police representative.
After a brief car chase, the suspect was taken into custody “without incident,” Highland Park Police Chief Lou Jogmen told reporters last night.
The young man had a presence on various websites, where he introduced himself as a musician from Chicago under the nickname “Awake the rapper”.
His motives are unknown at this stage.
Authorities deployed heavy forces, armored vehicles, at least one helicopter, and federal reinforcements were also called in.
“Battlefield”
Yesterday Monday, a holiday in the USA, hundreds of residents, among them many families with children and babies, had taken their place on the sidewalks of Highland Park to watch, as more or less everywhere in the country, the traditional parade for the celebration of independence.
While marching student bands, gunshots were heard. “There were about fifty shots, everyone thought it was fireworks,” Zoe, who was present, told CNN.
“At one point I saw a girl covered in blood, I’ve never seen anything like that before,” he added, describing scenes of “panic, people falling on top of each other.” He hid behind a trash can, then sought refuge in a basement. On her way out, she said, she saw a “battle field” ahead of her.
According to the first data of the investigation, the young man opened fire from the roof of a shopping mall to which he had climbed by the fire safety ladder. “He was very well hidden and difficult to track down,” a police spokesman described.
After opening fire, he fled. A “powerful” rifle was found at the scene by police officers.
An eyewitness, retired doctor Richard Kaufman, said that in total, he estimates that the assailant fired about 200 times. “There was pandemonium. People were trampled. Babies were being thrown in the air. People dived to the ground for cover. Bloodied people were tripping over each other.”
Five people, all adults, were killed on the spot, the sixth died after being taken to a hospital. At least 26 injured people – aged between 8 and 85 – were taken by emergency services and some, including a child, are in a critical condition, a medical source said.
Celebrations were immediately suspended in several nearby towns, where authorities closed beaches and urged citizens to be vigilant.
“American Scourge”
It was only natural that the massacre at what was supposed to be a show of American patriotism immediately reignited the debate over gun control, an issue that continues to deeply divide the country.
There are nearly 400 million firearms in the US, more than there are residents.
“It is shocking that America’s (independence) celebration has been torn apart by a uniquely American scourge,” commented Illinois’ Democratic governor, J. B. Pritzker. “The only freedom we deny our citizens is to live without the daily fear of gun violence.”
Declaring himself “shocked”, Democratic President Joe Biden vowed in a statement that he “will not give up the fight against the epidemic of gun violence” after the new bloodbath.
The US had not yet recovered from the shock of a series of mass massacres, notably the one inside an elementary school in Uvalde (Texas) with 21 dead, 19 children and two teachers, on May 24.
The country is facing an upsurge in violent crime.
Firearms cause about 40,000 deaths a year in the US, including suicides, according to the specialist website Gun V
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