On an idyllic summer morning, from a rooftop high above the Highland Park Independence Day parade, a gunman aimed down at the floats and lawn chairs and strollers and opened fire.
The high school marching band’s members sprinted for their lives, still carrying their flutes and saxophones. Bystanders scooped up young children and fled. In all, six people were killed. Some two dozen others were injured, either by rifle fire or in the stampede away from the scene. The victims ranged in age from 8 to 85.
After an hourslong search, authorities arrested a person of interest: 22-year-old Robert “Bobby” Crimo III. North Chicago police spotted him and gave chase; he was ultimately arrested without incident in Lake Forest, according to the Highland Park police chief. Crimo was taken back to Highland Park as the investigation continued.
Police recovered a rifle from the crime scene, and federal authorities are performing a trace to try to determine its origin.
Here’s what we know about shooting.
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It was the Fourth of July, and the North Shore suburb of Highland Park became the latest American community to be terrorized by a mass shooting.
For hours after the attack, officers searched building by building near the parade route, which was littered with belongings abandoned in the chaos: A double stroller. Balloons. Bikes. Pacifiers. Sandals. A hat printed with stars and stripes.
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The first popping noises sounded like firecrackers or maybe a gun salute honoring the American flag. Then someone screamed, “There’s a shooter.”
And, in an instant, everyone understood the reality.
They grabbed their children under their arms and ran. They left behind strollers, lawn chairs, cellphones and purses. They took only what mattered.
“People were terrified, screaming,” Highland Park resident Joe Leslie said. “It was a scene from a nightmare.”
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Jacki Sundheim coordinated events and bar and bat mitzvahs at North Shore Congregation Israel, according to the synagogue’s website.
Sundheim also taught preschool at Congregation Israel, where she was a lifelong member, according to a message from the synagogue. It also said her “work, kindness and warmth touched us all” and that she guided “innumerable among us through life’s moments of joy and sorrow, all of this with tireless dedication.”
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More than 100 law enforcement agencies had helped throughout the day to search for the suspect after he opened fire from a rooftop along the parade route. The police dragnet had started with a perimeter around the core of Highland Park, gradually spreading to include police activity in nearby neighborhoods and finally other suburbs.
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What haunts longtime Highland Park resident Dana Gordon now are the words of the mother of one of the Uvalde, Texas, school shooting victims.
Just days ago, Gordon helped organize an event in Highland Park dubbed “a community art action against gun violence.” It was prompted by the Uvalde shooting in May, and the names of its 21 victims were read.
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The most deadly incident since May happened when a gunman killed 19 children and two adults at a school in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24. And on May 14, a racist attack led to the deaths of 10 African Americans at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York.
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Liam Hendriks, who was born in Australia, said he is “baffled’ by American gun culture.
“That’s what America is known for,” he said. “There are a lot of things that are good over here, but you look at the news and it’s just a complete … I can walk into the stores as a non-American and buy a handgun in certain states. And that baffles me because I had to take a driving test when I came over here. I won’t have to take a test if I want to get a gun. That’s stupid. Whoever thought that was a great idea is an idiot.”
