Six dead in July 4 Independence Day Chicago parade shooting

INDEPENDENCE DAY SHOOTING IN CHICAGO

At least six people were killed in the horror July 4 attack, with the US still raw from a string of recent mass shootings

A person of interest has been arrested after six people were killed in a July 4 parade shooting in Chicago, shattering Independence Day celebrations.

Police confirmed Robert E “Bobby” Crimo III, 22, had been taken into custody.

The attack left around 30 people injured as parade-goers scattered in panic when a gunman opened fire from a rooftop about three-quarters of the way through the event, about 10.15am local time.

Bloodied parade-goers fled in panic, leaving blankets, water bottles, coffee cups and parade paraphernalia strewn on the streets of Highland Park.

Baby strollers adorned with American flags were abandoned as parents sought safety where they could.

Some revellers sought refuge in a filling station, while others cowered behind skips and beneath cars.

One man put his child in a skip in the hope of keeping the infant out of the line of fire.

The attack was the third mass shooting in the US in a month and a half, following the killing of 10 people at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York and the shooting of 19 children and two teachers at a school in Uvalde, Texas.

In a separate July 4 incident, two police officers were also shot in Philadelphia near the Benjamin Franklin Parkway as thousands celebrated at a concert and fireworks show.

The five people who died at the scene in Chicago were adults and a sixth person later died in hospital as a result of their injuries.

Those injured were aged between eight and 85, with "four or five" being children, said Dr Brigham Temple of the NorthShore University Health Center, the nearest hospital to the shooting.

The hospital admitted 26 patients following the attack, with all but one suffering gunshot wounds. Dr Temple said 19 patients were treated and discharged, while others were at other hospitals.

Nancy Rotering, the mayor of Highland Park, said: “On a day that we came together to celebrate community and freedom, we are instead mourning the tragic loss of life and struggling with the terror that was brought upon us.”

Joe Biden, the US president, who recently signed the first bipartisan gun control bill in nearly 30 years, said he was “shocked by the senseless gun violence that has yet again brought grief to an American community on this Independence Day”.

Mr Biden did not expand on his remarks in his White House address marking Independence Day.

Highland Park, which has a population of 30,000, had planned to hold a bike and pet parade to mark the most important public holiday in the US.

Gina Troiani’s five-year-old son had decorated his bike with patriotic bunting as he and other children from his nursery looked forward to enjoying the festivities. Ms Troiani and her child rushed back to their car as gunfire rang out.

“It was just sort of chaos,” she said. “There were people that got separated from their families, looking for them. Others just grabbed their kids and started running.”

Emergency services rushed to the scene, treating some victims on the spot while others were taken to local hospitals. Witnesses reported hearing at least 20 shots as police pleaded with people to disperse. Around 20 people rushed into a filling station for cover.

All of a sudden there was a stampede of the crowd, who were attending on either side of the street. So I kind of gingerly walked up, and all of a sudden, I saw people bloodied. I have never seen anything like it – it was chaos.

Christopher Covelli, the Lake County Major Crime Task Force spokesman, said the shooting from the rooftop appeared to be random.

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