The American city of Highland Park, located on the outskirts of Chicago, was caught between pain and ignorance on Tuesday (5), the day after the national holiday massacre in which a 22-year-old man was arrested. still unknown.
The suburb’s main street was still blocked off by the police, and it felt like time stood still.
A stroller, a tricycle, and some folding chairs abandoned on the scene, among other objects, show the chaos created by the general flight of the crowd after Monday’s shooting.
In this shopping street with red brick buildings, American flags fluttered alongside other flags carrying LGTBQIA+ pride.
Armed with an AR-15-like rifle, Robert (“Bobby”) Crimo fired into a crowd from the roof of a building as hundreds of people watched the traditional American Independence Day parade. At least six people were killed and 26 injured.
Deputy Chief of Police Christopher Covelli noted that the reasons for the attack have not yet been determined, but it is understood that Crimo planned its action “a few weeks in advance”.
“(She) was dressed in women’s clothing, and investigators believe she did this to hide her tattoos and identity, and to make it easier for her to escape with other people fleeing the chaos,” she said.
Doctor David Baum, who participated in the rescue operations, witnessed the horror. “The horrific sight of some corpses is unbearable to a normal person,” he explained, referring to victims who had been “emptied” or riddled with bullets.
– ‘This is my destiny’ – Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth, a former military man who lost both legs in a helicopter crash in Iraq, recalled the last time he “heard such a gunshot in Iraq on July 4th.”
The suspect, who had arrived from the area, managed to escape before being caught by police that afternoon, then posted a photo of a tattooed youth with a thin face.
He did not say why he opened fire, but according to the American press, some of his posts on the internet are about violence, guns and bullets.
In a video released eight months ago, a young man who would become Robert Crimo appears in a bedroom and a classroom with posters showing a gunman shooting people, according to the local Chicago Tribune newspaper. And a voiced commentary: “I have to do this”, “This is my destiny. Everything leads me to this. Nothing can stop me, not even me.”
In the footage released from the suspect’s Twitter account, it is possible to see him with a support flag for former Republican President Donald Trump on his back.
Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering told NBC that she met the young man when he was a scout and that the gun used in the massacre was legally purchased.
– ‘Sadness’ – “Here’s where we have to think and ask what happened: How can a person be filled with so much anger, so much hatred to attack innocent people who spend a day with their families?” ‘ commented Rotering.
A drama that plunges the city into “an incredible wave of sadness and turmoil.” “Everyone knows someone who was directly affected by the tragedy,” the mayor said.
The suspect’s uncle, Paul Crimo, told CNN on Tuesday that he saw “no sign” that his nephew would do such a thing.
Independence Day celebrations were canceled in many surrounding places, but this did not prevent further acts of violence from taking place.
According to local police, one person was killed and four injured in a gun attack on a home in Kenosha, a small town about 60 miles north of Highland Park in Wisconsin.
This tragedy once again brought the firearms debate to light in a country with close to 400 million guns in circulation. Recently, Congress passed a law to regulate them.
When the July 4 massacre occurred, the country was in turmoil from other recent armed conflicts, including one who killed 21 people, including 19 children, at a school in Uvalde, Texas on May 24.
According to the Gun Violence Archive website, more than 22,400 people have died from gunshot wounds this year, including suicides.
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source: Noticias
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