Chicago shooting: Bodies and blood on pavement cast dark cloud over Fourth of July parade

The debris on the ground and the items left behind showed the speed at which people fled.

On the pavement there were fold-up chairs, several toppled over; abandoned shoes; American flags and children’s scooters and bicycles. One pink bike, standing upright, had a pair of helmets still attached to the handlebars.

It was to have been a day of joy when Americans celebrate the country’s independence nearly 250 years ago. Towns and cities across the country mark the occasion with parades and firework displays.

In Highland Park, a wealthy suburb about 40km north of Chicago, crowds had gathered at about 10am to watch the local parade.

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'I put my son in a dumpster': eyewitnesses describe Illinois mass shooting

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Witnesses said that a local high school group had just marched past in their blue uniforms when a series of loud noises rang out.

On a building nearby, a gunman had established what, in essence, was a sniper’s nest.

From there he looked down through the sights of a high-powered assault rifle and opened fire on the crowd below.

Audio recordings detail a series of single shots, a pause and then another burst of gunfire, the rounds closer together.

Initially it sounded like firecrackers. However, reality quickly dawned as dozens of onlookers were hit by bullets. Panic ensued. The high school group charged back up the street to take cover in nearby shops. Mothers and fathers picked up their children and ran. Police assigned to the parade raced towards the gunfire but, as they closed in, the gunman ceased firing and disappeared.

On the pavement, five people were killed. Two more died later in hospital. Dozens were wounded.

Shot in wheelchair

Nicolas Toledo, who was 76, died in his wheelchair as he watched the parade.

His granddaughter, Xochil Toledo, told the New York Times that he had been sitting between his son and his nephew when the shooting started.

“We were all in shock. We thought it was part of the parade.”

Then, she said, “We realised our grandfather was hit. We saw blood and everything splattered on to us.”

Along the street another younger man lay bleeding on the pavement. Kevin McCarthy was 37 and worked for a biotechnology company in Illinois. He and his wife Irina had brought their two-year-old son to see the parade.

When the shooting started, McCarthy was hit but shielded the young boy, Aiden, with his body.

Irina McCarthy was also shot and killed.

As police and rescue workers worked, ultimately unsuccessfully, to save the life of Kevin McCarthy, the young toddler seemed to have wandered away on his own.

A couple, Dana and Greg Ring, spotted him in the company of a woman who was shaking and appeared to be in shock.

The couple took the child and brought him to the attention of police.

‘Not his blood’

Greg Ring said: “I’ll never forget. I pulled up, and I said, ‘This is not our kid. It’s not his blood; he’s okay. What should we do?’

“And the cop said, ‘We can’t be babysitters now. Can you take care of him?’”

A neighbour of the McCarthys saw a photo of the young boy online and began to try to contact his family. Eventually police collected the child and brought him to his grandparents.

A fundraising campaign for the now orphaned boy had generated in excess of $3 million by Friday.

*******

Highland Park is an affluent suburb close to the shore of Lake Michigan.

It is known for picturesque houses and tree-lined streets. It was the backdrop to popular 1980s films such as Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and Risky Business.

About 30,000 people live in the town, the vast majority of whom are white. There is a significant Jewish population.

It is also wealthy. Highland Park has a median household income of nearly $150,000.

As the shooting ceased at the Fourth of July parade last Monday, there was panic. But there was no sign of the gunman.

As crowds rushed through the streets among them was a woman with long hair and pale make-up.

Police learned that as the gunman climbed down a fire escape ladder from the roof of the building from where he had been firing, he discarded something wrapped in what seemed to be a red package or blanket.

They discovered that it was actually a high-powered rifle. It proved to be a key clue to the gunman’s identity.

A rapid assessment of the firearm by federal agents took them to a 21-year-old man living not too far away who had purchased the weapon legally in Illinois.

Within hours police issued a public alert for a man named Robert Crimo III but warned that he was “armed and dangerous”.

A member of the public identified the car highlighted by police in their alert and called emergency services.

A brief car chase ensued which ended with Crimo being taken into custody “without incident”.

Crimo had spent some of the intervening hours after the shooting driving across the state border to Madison in Wisconsin, about 240km (150 miles) away.

Police said that while there he “seriously contemplated” using a second rifle in his car to carry out another killing spree at an independence day celebration in the city that he happened upon.

Crimo and his family were not unknown in the Highland Park area. His father, a local business owner, had run for mayor a couple of years earlier.

Local rapper

Robert Crimo III was a local rapper who made his own music and videos. He stands out as he has distinctive tattoos on his neck and face. His stage name was “awake the rapper” and the word “awake” was tattooed above one eye.

Prosecutors said Crimo told police he had dressed like a girl and covered his tattoos with make-up “because people would recognise him”.

In the aftermath of such atrocities, the media focus quickly turns to the suspect and his or her background.

Crimo had left school early, became involved in rap music and was seen by some who knew him as a loner.

Some local residents maintained that he had taken part in some local rallies in support of Donald Trump ahead of the 2020 presidential election.

Crimo’s uncle maintained the 21 year old was “a lonely quiet kid” who was usually on his own. He said he had never seen his nephew act violently or behave in a way that was concerning.

However, it quickly emerged that Crimo was a more troubled individual.

Videos he posted contained some dark imagery including a cartoon figure with a rifle being shot at by police.

In April 2019, police were alerted that he had attempted suicide. However, police concluded that it was not a law enforcement issue as it was being dealt with by health professionals. In September 2019, police were called by a family member and told he had threatened “to kill everyone”. Police confiscated a collection of 16 knives and daggers as well as a sword. Confirmation that Crimo had had two interactions with police three years ago raised questions in the US as to how he had subsequently managed to purchase five separate guns including a high-powered rifle and whether warning signs had been missed.

Illinois has what are known as red-flag laws to allow courts to remove weapons from individuals considered to be a danger to themselves or others.

However, at the time of the confiscation of the knives, Crimo did not possess any guns.

It also emerged that, in late 2019, Crimo’s father had signed a consent form allowing his son, then under 21, to apply for a card that authorises Illinois residents to own a firearm. Police decided there was nothing to prevent him buying a gun. On Thursday, police said Crimo’s father would be criminally investigated over the gun licence.

A lawyer representing Crimo’s parents said they did not see any warning signs of an impending attack and were unaware of his motivations.

Police also publicly have given no indication of why they believe the attack took place.

They said they had “no information to suggest at this point it was racially motivated, motivated by religion or any other protected status”.

However, police suggested that he appeared to have “some type of affinity towards the number four and seven and inverse was 7/4” – the Fourth of July.

*****

After the murder of 19 children and two teachers in Uvalde in May, US politicians passed the first bipartisan legislation in more than two decades on gun controls. The measures were much more modest than had been sought by President Joe Biden although they were welcomed by campaigners as a start.

Vice-president Kamala Harris visited Highland Park on Wednesday and again urged the US congress to ban assault weapons.

However, it seems unlikely there will be further legislation on gun controls.

The Republican minority leader in the US senate, Mitch McConnell, argued that the problem leading to mass shooting incidents was not constitutional gun rights but rather mental illness.

“We have got to figure out some way to identify these troubled young men,” he said.