Highland Park parade shooting: What we know

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, seven people were killed. Some two dozen others were injured, either by rifle fire or in the stampede away from the scene.

After an hourslong search, authorities arrested 21-year-old Robert “Bobby” Crimo III. A day later, he was charged with seven counts of first-degree murder in what Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart called a “premeditated and calculated attack.”

Here’s what we know about shooting.

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The city’s main street will never look the same to Courtney Mann, who grew up going to the Fourth of July parade.

“You go two blocks away from here and it seems like life is normal,” Mann, 46, said.

Late into the morning, FBI agents loaded abandoned lawn chairs and strollers into U-Haul trucks and drove them away. Central Avenue began to look clean again as the rain dried up.

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A Lake County judge ordered Robert E. “Bobby” Crimo III, accused of carrying out the rooftop massacre at Highland Park’s Independence Day parade, held without bond as his prosecution on seven counts of first degree murder begins.

Calling Crimo a “threat to the community,” Judge Judge Theodore Potkonjak ordered him to remain in jail. Crimo’s next hearing is set for July 28.

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The parents of a toddler. A father of eight and a grandfather to many. A synagogue employee known for her kindness. A family man who loved the arts.

Here is what we know about the victims of the shooting who ranged in age from 8 to 85 years old.

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Throughout the event, people wrote notes and tied them over the orange fabric.

“Why are guns more highly valued than human life?” one note said.

“We weren’t the first, and we won’t be the last. Enough is enough.” another said.

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A 2019 report from Highland Park police warning that Robert Crimo III could pose a “clear and present danger” did not meet standards to declare him an imminent threat, said representatives of the Illinois State Police, which administers permits. And nothing under current law would have stopped them from issuing him a gun permit a few months later, ISP Director Brendan Kelly told reporters Wednesday.

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When Lindsay Meltzer ushered approximately 100 people into the basement of Bright Bowls — the business she has operated on Central Avenue — to escape a gunman in downtown Highland Park on July 4, she did not think she was doing anything special.

“I did what anyone else would have done,” Meltzer said.

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A day after a gunman fired 70 rounds into a crowd at the Highland Park Independence Day parade, concerns and questions began to emerge about the availability of high-capacity firepower in Illinois, including whether existing rules and laws around background checks are enough to protect the public.

When asked if ISP reviewed the “Clear and Present Danger” report from Highland Park police when considering Crimo’s subsequent FOID application, a state police spokesperson responded: “At the time the FOID application was submitted, there was not a clear and present danger.”

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Toddler Aiden McCarthy was found wandering alone in the chaotic aftermath of Monday’s mass shooting in Highland Park as strangers sought to reunite him with his family.

Tuesday it emerged that the parents of 2-year-old Aiden, Irina and Kevin McCarthy, were among the seven people killed when gunfire erupted at the start of the local Fourth of July parade.

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The family of Eduardo Uvaldo, 69, prayed for a miracle after the grandfather was shot while attending the Highland Park Fourth of July parade. His daughters, on social media, pleaded with others to join them in prayer, sharing a photo of Uvaldo sitting in front of the Louvre in Paris, wearing a blue shirt and a soft smile.

But Uvaldo didn’t make it and requests for prayers for a miracle turned into prayers for strength for the family he leaves behind.

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Katie Goldstein, whose neighbors describe her as “welcoming” and “lovely,” brought them baked goods during the holidays.

On the Fourth of July, however, she attended the Highland Park parade where a gunman killed seven and injured dozens. Goldstein was one of the seven killed, leaving behind her husband and two daughters.

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Nicolas Toledo, 76, arrived a few months ago from his native Morelos, Mexico, to spend time with his family after retiring several years ago.

Minutes after the parade had started, Toledo — sitting in a wheelchair surrounded by his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren — had been smiling as horses marched down the street, a relative, Elizabeth Vazquez Toledo told local Chicago Spanish news stations the evening after the shooting.

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Steve Straus, 88, was an exceptional joke-teller, an avid reader and a “culture vulture” who enjoyed the artistic fruits of the Art Institute and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, family members said Tuesday. Energetic beyond his years, Straus commuted on Metra five days a week to his office downtown, where he worked as a stockbroker.

Straus, said his son Peter Straus, was “very curious about the world.”

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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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Robert E. “Bobby” Crimo III, 21, is charged with seven counts of first-degree murder in what Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart called a “premeditated and calculated attack.” Crimo was apprehended late Monday afternoon following an hourslong search involving more than 100 law enforcement agencies.

Details about the attack and the background of the alleged shooter emerged throughout Tuesday, as the Highland Park community continued grieving the losses. Authorities said that in 2019 police were called to Crimo’s home after he threatened to “kill everyone,” but he wasn’t arrested.

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“We’ve got to be smarter as a country in terms of who has access to what, in particular assault weapons,” said Vice President Kamala Harris, who was joined by Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering and other Democratic politicians. “And we’ve got to take this stuff seriously. The whole nation should understand and have a level of empathy to understand that this could happen anywhere in any peace-loving community. And we should stand together and speak out about why it’s got to stop.”

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The shooting at Highland Park’s Fourth of July parade put the North Shore town in chilling company with other communities across Chicago and the suburbs where neighbors, co-workers, students and residents have faced terror and tragedy when gunmen opened fire.

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Members of the Highland Park community came together to grieve Tuesday after seven people were killed and more than two dozen others injured in a mass shooting during the town’s Independence Day parade.

In the first of several vigils, about 60 people gathered in a gym at Trinity Grace Church in Highland Park. Several pastors from nearby Christ Church attended, said Jill Carter, executive director of creative arts and communications for Christ Church. Carter said they weren’t able to host a vigil in their church because it was still roped off by police as part of the shooting scene.

The suspect in the shooting, Robert “Bobby” E. Crimo III, 21, attended Christ Church off and on for the past several years, Carter said.

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Having moved to Highland Park with my family as a 10-year-old, the city has been the place where I raised my children, and now get to watch grandchildren play baseball on the same diamonds where I played as a boy.

It is home and a very good one.

Fourth of July parades were often part of my experience as a child, as a parent, as a reporter and now as a grandparent. A few times, the parade was a three-generational experience with multiple grandparents. Thankfully, that was not the case Monday.

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In the past, Chicago-area parents may have been able to avoid difficult conversations with their young children about mass shootings in other areas of the country. But the Highland Park shooting has made that nearly impossible for many parents.

“If you’re living in northern Illinois, everyone is going to be talking about this, and if a child is older than a toddler, they’re going to have some level of exposure to it,” said Gene Liebler, executive director of behavioral health and community at La Rabida Children’s Hospital in Chicago.

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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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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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The Bulls hold close ties to the Highland Park community. They practiced for more than 20 years in Deerfield, less than 10 minutes from the site of the shooting, and Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen were among many Bulls players and coaches to live in Highland Park during their tenure with the team.

In its statement the team called for increased action to combat gun violence. The Bulls previously partnered with other city teams to form the Chicago Sports Alliance, which directs grants to organizations such as the Chicago Crime Lab.

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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.”

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