Highland Park shooting victims mourned as Vice President Harris calls for assault weapons ban – Chicago Tribune

Good morning, Chicago.

The parents of a toddler. A father of eight and grandfather to many. A synagogue employee known for her kindness. A family man who loved the arts. The victims of a mass shooting during the Highland Park Independence Day parade are coming to be identified. Seven people are dead and some two dozen others injured, ranging in age from 8 to 85 years old.

On Tuesday, Robert E. “Bobby” Crimo III, 21, was charged with seven counts of first-degree murder in what Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart called a “premeditated and calculated attack.” Rinehart said he anticipates dozens more charges as the investigation continues.

Crimo planned the parade attack for weeks, police and prosecutors allege, then climbed a fire escape ladder to the roof of a building and fired as the Independence Day parade was in full swing. He dressed as a woman in order to evade detection, according to Chris Covelli, a spokesman with the Lake County Major Crime Task Force. The gun that was used in the attack was purchased legally in Illinois by Crimo, authorities said.

Vice President Kamala Harris visited Highland Park Tuesday, calling for federal action on assault weapons.

“We need reasonable gun safety laws,” Harris said. “And we need to have Congress stop protecting those gun manufacturers with the liability shield. Repeal it. Repeal it.”

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Robert E. “Bobby” Crimo III, 21, was 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.

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.

Less than 36 hours after a shooter opened fire at the Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, killing seven people, Vice President Kamala Harris arrived in the north suburb Tuesday evening calling for federal action on assault weapons.

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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 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.”

The shooting at Highland Park’s Fourth of July parade Monday 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.

In Aurora in 2019, a gunman killed five fellow employees at a warehouse and wounded others, including five police officers. In DeKalb, five students were killed and 17 others injured in a shooting at Northern Illinois University in 2008. Less than two weeks ago, a worker at WeatherTech in Bolingbrook shot three co-workers, killing one.

Louis Jogmen, a former Tinley Park police officer, was seriously wounded July 12, 1977, when he was shot in the head at point-blank range while responding to an armed robbery of a convenience store. He miraculously survived. Jogmen’s son, Louis, was 7 at the time.

Now, as police chief in Highland Park, Jogmen is trying to help his community come to grips with a mass shooting at a Fourth of July parade.

The Chicago Bulls offered support to victims of the Highland Park shooting and called for change after a gunman killed seven people and wounded more than 30 others during a Fourth of July parade.

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.