Highland Park Mass Shooter Charged

Details

Category: Crime

Published on Tuesday, 05 July 2022 19:17

Written by Janet Walker

Robert E. Crimo III, 21, who opened fire on the Highland Park, Illinois, Fourth of July parade, killing seven and wounding at least 40, has been charged with seven counts of first-degree murder with more charges expected.

"Lake County State's Attorney Eric Rinehart announced the initial charges against 21-year-old Robert E. Crimo III at a news conference, calling the Monday mass shooting, which also injured more than 30 people, "a premeditated and calculated attack," The Washington Post reported.

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Highland Park, an affluent suburb of Chicago, had just began its annual Fourth of July parade, when witnesses say, a series of bullets were sprayed on the crowd from a local rooftop. Survivors describe the repeated sound of what everyone initially thought were firecrackers, happening in quick successive bursts and parade watchers and marchers began to run for cover.

It was then, the affluent residents of Highland Park, Illinois, understood Chicagoland violence had come to their sanctuary.

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Response time was nearly immediate, and local SWAT and police recovered an automatic rifle on the rooftop of the building the shooter used to position himself. During his escape he dressed in female clothing and wore a wig. He was able to slip through the frantic crowd, unnoticed.

Crimo, a heavily tattooed slight man, was known in the local hip-hop community for his violent performances. He made previous statements in regard to killing everyone, and showed clear signs of trouble, although as most laws prevent the removable of citizens on appearances only, and as speech falls under protected and unprotected, no probable cause could have allowed law enforcement to hold him on statements alone. Although the remark did trigger a "Clear and Present Danger" alarm for local police.

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After the shooting, Crimo was able to elude law enforcement for several hours. He returned to his mother's home, changed clothes, and took her car and drove to Madison, Wisconsin, a two-hour drive before driving back to the local area. It was then, he was surrounded and arrested without incident.

After searching his home, police confiscated a cache of weapons including five knives and five firearms including the two automatic weapons he used at the scene of the crime.

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The mass shooting follows a weekend of gun violence from coast to coast leaving more than 220 dead, and six weeks after a troubled youth walked into Robb Elementary school, in Uvalde, Texas, with an AK-47 and murdered 19 ten-year-old students and two educators.

The six of the seven dead in Highland Park, have been identified: Katherine Goldstein, 64; Irina McCarthy, 35 and her husband, Kevin McCarthy, 37 who leave behind a two-year-old son; Jacquelyn Sundheim, 63; Stephen Straus, 88; and Nicolás Toledo-Zaragoza, 78, who just arrived in the states to visit his family.