During the Independence Day celebrations in Highland Park, the alleged perpetrator had been preparing for the attack for “weeks” and disguised as a woman to remain anonymous, police in the city near Chicago said on Tuesday.
Christopher Covelli, a local police officer, explained that 21-year-old Robert Crimo used “a powerful rifle similar to an AR-15” to fire from the ceiling of a store at the crowd watching the July 4th parade.
“We believe he prepared the attack for weeks,” he added.
It’s possible that Crimo “dressed in women’s clothes” to hide his identity and wore a long wig to hide the tattoos on his face. After the attack, he dropped his weapon and joined the people fleeing the chaos.
The young man fired more than 70 shots, killing seven and injuring at least 35, police said on Tuesday.
Among the dead is a couple named Irina and Kevin McCarthy, whose two-year-old son Aiden was rescued thanks to one of the villagers who had secured the boy.
This Tuesday, the suburb’s main street is still blocked by the police, leaving it feeling like time has stopped here.
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.
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.
“knives”
Born in the nearby small town of Highwood, Covelli said the shooter was identified through surveillance cameras and tracking the gun he had legally purchased. He was arrested on Monday and so far has not disclosed the reason for the attack.
Christopher Cavelli said authorities announced the charges against Crimo on Tuesday night.
According to the police, the young man tried to commit suicide in April 2019 and received medical treatment.
In September 2019, some agents went to the suspect’s home after being warned that he was threatening to “kill everyone”.
Cavelli explained that at the time, police seized 16 knives, a dagger and a sword, but Crimo was not arrested because no one had filed charges.
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 need to think and ask what happened: How could a person be filled with so much anger, so much hatred, to attack innocent people who spend a day with their families,” Rotering said.
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 signs that his nephew would do such a thing.
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.
President Joe Biden ordered flags to be flown at half-mast on public buildings on Tuesday. He recently won a political victory in a Congressional vote on a law regulating the sale of guns in the United States.
According to the Gun Violence Archive website, more than 22,400 people have died from gunshot wounds this year, including suicides.
source: Noticias
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