The Highland Park Fourth of July parade was suddenly halted when shots were fired about 10 minutes after the parade kicked off at 10 a.m. Monday, striking an unknown number of parade-goers and sending hundreds of people running for safety.
Police were on the lookout for a person of interest identified as 21-year-old Robert "Bobby" E. Crimo III, who was said to be driving a 2010 silver Honda with Illinois plates reading EM80653. They apprehended him Monday evening after he was spotted Buckely and Route 41. Crimo fled, but was stopped and taken into custody without incident.
According to a press release from Highland Park, five people were confirmed dead from the attack and 16 had been transported to the hospital. As of 1:30 p.m. CST, the death count was up to six, according to a tweet from the Lake County Sheriff. The sheriff described the shooter suspect as a male with a small build and long black hair who is around 18 to 20 years old and was wearing a blue or white shirt.
WBBM Newsradio reporter Nancy Harty reported that Highland Park police swat teams were going door to door looking for suspect, who she said has killed six and wounded at least 25. Harty also reported that police found a rifle at the scene.
WBBM Newsradio's Lisa Fielding reported that the age of injured victims treated at Highland Park Hospital ranged from 8 years old to 85 years old and that four or five children were shot.
Andy Dahn reported that five adults were pronounced dead at the parade and that the sixth victim died at a hospital. He also said that a child was in "critical condition" and that the gunman gained access to roof of a business by an "unsecured" ladder.
A Chicago Sun-Times reporter saw blankets covering three bloodied bodies and five other people wounded and bloodied near the parade’s reviewing stand. Several witnesses said they heard multiple shots fired.
“I heard 20 to 25 shots which were rapid in succession,” Miles Zaremski, a Highland Park resident, told the Chicago Sun-Times.
He said the gunfire was at Central Avenue and Second Avenue. “It was people in that area that got shot, murdered, from a little child I saw, I don’t know if he survived, to a woman covered with blood and she did not survive. And there were others as well.”
Neesa Sweet, a Highland Park resident, said she was “about a half block away, walking toward the reviewing stand. Suddenly, I heard loud, repeated, rapid-fire shots. It lasted a long time. People started running away.”
Police repeatedly yelled into the crowd, “Everybody disperse, please. It is not safe to be here.”
As they fled the parade route on Central Street in downtown Highland Park, parade-goers left behind chairs, baby strollers and blankets as they sought cover, not knowing just what happened.
Police patrolled the area with rifles.
Adrienne Drell, a former Sun-Times reporter, said she was sitting on a curb along Central Avenue watching the parade when she saw members of the Highland Park High School marching band start to run.
“Go to Sunset,” Drell said she heard the students shout, directing people to nearby Sunset Food.
A man picked her up off the curb and urged her to get out, Drell said. “There’s panic in the whole town,” she said. “Everyone is just stunned beyond belief.”
She ran across to a nearby parking lot with other people who had been watching the parade.
“It was a quiet, peaceful, lovely morning, people were enjoying the parade,” Drell said. “Within seconds, to have that peacefulness suddenly ripped apart, it’s scary. You can’t go anywhere, you can’t find peace. I think we are falling apart.”
As police squad cars wizzed by Central Avenue with their sirens blaring, Alexander Sandoval sat on a bench with a tear in his eye.
The 39-year-old woke up before 7 a.m. to set lawn chairs and a blanket out in front of the main stage of the Highland Park parade.
He was within walking distance so he went back home to get breakfast with son, partner and step daughter before returning to the parade.
It felt like a joyous morning to celebrate the 4th of July, but just hours later he and his family would be running for their lives.
“We saw the Navy’s march and float pass by and when I first heard the gun shots started I thought it was them saluting the flag and shooting blanks,” Sandoval said. “But then I saw people starting to run and the shots kept going we started running.”
In the chaos that followed, Sandoval and his partner split up as they ran in different directions. He stood with his son and she with her daughter.
“I grabbed my son and tried to break into one of the local buildings but I couldn’t,” Sandoval said. “The shooting stopped, I guess he was reloading, so I kept running and ran into an alley and put my son in a garbage dumpster so he could be safe.”
Sandoval then ran in search of his partner and step daughter. He started seeing bodies in pools of blood — a sight he doesn’t believe he will ever forget.
“I saw a little boy who was shot being carried away — it was just terror,” Sandoval said.
He was able to reconnect with his partner who was inside of a nearby McDonalds. All were unharmed.
“This doesn’t happen here. It shouldn’t happen anywhere,” Sandoval said.
In an "abundance of caution" some other municipalities in the Chicago area have canceled July 4 events, including Evanston and Glenview.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire & Chicago Sun-Times 2022. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
This story has been updated with new information.
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