During a US Independence Day parade in Highland Park near Chicago on Monday, a gunman killed at least six people and injured at least 30 others, sparking fear and panic in the small town of Michigan. The suspect, on the run for several hours before being arrested by the local police, is called Robert Crimo. Aged 22, the young man is, according to the first information having filtered through the American media, a local rapper nicknamed “Awake the rapper”.
This Tuesday, new elements were revealed by the police concerning the profile of the shooter and the circumstances of the tragedy. According to the police, the shooter prepared his attack “for weeks”. Robert Crimo allegedly used a “powerful rifle” which appears to have been purchased legally at the parade, a local police official told a press conference. He then allegedly fired at random on the participants from the top of the roof of a business, again according to the police chief.
308 killings since the beginning of the year
The latter added that the young man had “dressed as a woman” to hide his identity and flee the scene more easily. In a statement after the killing, Joe Biden said he was “shocked” and promised “not to give up on the fight against the epidemic of gun violence”. With this shooting, the number of killings rises to 308 since the beginning of the year.