Robert 'Bobby' Crimo, 22,  as person behind the deadly Highland Park parade mass shooting 

Another mass shooting involving a white man on the day of Independence 

By Edward Era Barbacena

A gunman perched on a rooftop opened fire on a Fourth of July parade in the wealthy Chicago suburb of Highland Park on Monday, killing six people, injuring dozens and sending hundreds fleeing in terror.

Police identified a “person of interest” in the shooting hours later — 22-year-old Robert “Bobby” E. Crimo III — and said they believe he is armed and dangerous.

Officials said he is likely driving a 2010 silver Honda Fit with the Illinois license plate DM80653. They urged anyone with information on his whereabouts was urged to call 1-800-CALL-FBI.

The gunman started killing off the innocent Independence Day revelers with a “high-powered rifle” shortly after 10 a.m., authorities said.

Five adults died at the scene and a sixth victim succumbed to their injuries after being rushed to hospital, police said. The age of that victim wasn’t immediately known.

Of those injured, 26 people — ranging in age from 8 to 85 years — were taken to NorthShore University Health System hospitals with gunshot wounds to their abdomens and limbs. About four or five of them were children, authorities said.

At least one child was in a critical condition, police said.

Authorities believe the shooter, who was described as a white male with long dark hair and aged between 18 to 20 years, had climbed onto the roof of a building overlooking the parade route via a ladder attached to the dwelling.

“It looks like access to the roof via a ladder in an alley was unsecure,” Lake County Major Crime Task Force spokesman Christopher Covelli said.

The rifle was later recovered from the roof, cops said, adding the shooter was “discreet and difficult to see” when he started firing.

One witness told WGN TV that he saw the shooter as the gunfire erupted, saying “he was very military style, methodical in the way he was crouched and shooting.”

Other witnesses, including some who initially confused the gunshots for Independence Day fireworks, told the Chicago Sun Times they counted at least 20 shots being fired.

“I heard 20 to 25 shots, which were in rapid succession. So it couldn’t have been just a handgun or a shotgun,” local resident Miles Zaremski said.

Cops urged locals to shelter in place as authorities continued the hunt for the suspect.

“He could be in the city, he could be somewhere else,” Covelli said.

More than 100 law enforcement officers were called to the parade scene or dispatched elsewhere to track down the suspected shooter.

Police said they haven’t found any evidence of threats that the shooter potentially made on social media that would have warned of the bloodshed.

“This morning at 10.14, our community was terrorized by an act of violence that has shaken us to our core,” Mayor Nancy Rotering said at the news conference.

“Our hearts go out to the families of the victims at this devastating time. 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.”

Footage from the scene showed hundreds of parade-goers — some visibly bloodied — fleeing the parade route as the gunshots rang out just 10 minutes after the parade began.

Chairs, baby strollers, children’s bikes, blankets and US flags were among the items left behind as people fled.

Witnesses described seeing multiple bloodied bodies covered in blankets on the ground immediately after the shooting erupted.

“I grabbed my dad and started running,” one witness, Zoe Pawelczak, told CNN of the moment she realized something was wrong.

“I looked back, probably 20 feet away from me, I saw a girl shot and killed. Saw her die. I’ve never seen anything like this.”

Pawelczak said she and her dad hid behind a dumpster for about an hour before police directed them into the basement of a nearby business.

Pawelczak said she and her dad hid behind a dumpster for about an hour before police directed them into the basement of a nearby business.

“There were people that we were hiding with … One man had been shot in the head, like his ear, he was bleeding all over his face,” she said. “There was another girl that got escorted out [who] was shot in the leg.”

When she emerged from the basement, Pawelczak said the streets looked like a “battle zone.”

Alexander Sandoval told the Chicago Sun Times that his family got separated as they frantically fled the scene — and he ended up putting his 5-year-old son into a dumpster to try and shield him from bullets.

“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 [the madman] 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 said he then set off looking for his partner and their 6-year-old daughter.

“I saw a little boy who was shot being carried away,” Sandoval said, breaking down in tears. “It was just terror.”

Gina Troiani said she was standing at the beginning of the parade route with her 5-year-old son and his daycare class when she heard a loud sound she initially thought was fireworks — until someone started yelling about a gunman.

“We just start running in the opposite direction,” she said.

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

Debbie Glickman, a local resident, said she was on a parade float when she saw people running fleeing.

“People started saying ‘There’s a shooter, there’s a shooter, there a shooter,’” Glickman said. “So we just ran. We just ran. It’s like mass chaos down there.”

She added, “I’m so freaked out … It’s just so sad.”

Several nearby cities — including Evanston, Deerfield, Skokie, Waukegan and Glencoe — canceled their July Fourth events, citing the Highland Park shooter being still on the run.

“You have a tragic mass act of violence that was random here today at a community event where people were gathered to celebrate, and the offender has not been apprehended thus far,” Covelli, the crime task force spokesman, said.

“So, could this happen again? We don’t know what his intentions are at this point, so certainly we’re not sure of that.”

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker issued a statement, saying “there are no words for the kind of monster who lies in wait and fires into a crowd of families with children celebrating a holiday with their community.

“There are no words for the kind of evil that robs our neighbors of their hopes, their dreams, their futures. There are no words I can offer to lift the pain of those they leave behind.”

He added, “But grief will not bring the victims back and prayers alone will not put a stop to the terror of rampant gun violence in our country. I will stand firm with Illinoisans and Americans: we must — and we will — end this plague of gun violence.”

Illinois Rep. Bob Morgan tweeted that he was at the parade and there were “multiple injuries.”

Rep. Brad Schneider, whose district includes Highland Park, said he and his team had been gathering at the start of the parade route when the shooting unfolded.

“Hearing of loss of life and others injured. My condolences to the family and loved ones; my prayers for the injured and for my community,” Schneider tweeted. “Enough is enough!”

The Lake County Sheriff’s Office said on Twitter it is assisting Highland Park Police “with a shooting in the area of the Independence Day parade route.” 

“STAY OUT OF THE AREA – allow law-enforcement and first responders to do their work,” the sheriff’s office tweeted.