Hours after a gunman opened fire in a Chicago suburb, killing several people, a suspect has been arrested. As reported by the US media, citing local police, a 22-year-old man was initially identified as a “person of interest”. Police officers later discovered him in a car and picked him up after a short chase. The suspect is said to be local and drove a car registered in the local state of Illinois.
A gunman killed six people and injured dozens more at a US National Day parade. A doctor from a hospital near the Highland Park crime scene said the clinic treated 25 people aged eight to 85 with gunshot wounds, including several children.
The parade began Monday at 10:00 a.m. (local time/5:00 p.m. CEST). A short time later the first shots were fired. A spokesman for the Lake County Sheriff’s Office said it appeared the gunman fired indiscriminately from the roof of a commercial building at bystanders. A firearm found at the scene was a “powerful rifle.” Assault rifles are usually used for such bloody crimes in the USA.
“This morning at 10:14 a.m., our community was terrorized by an act of violence that shocked us deeply,” said Mayor Rotering. Chief Police Officer at the scene, Chris O’Neill, said police and rescue workers were present at the parade and responded immediately. Hundreds of police officers searched for the shooter for several hours in the northern suburbs of Chicago. Following the parade, a US Independence Day celebration was planned in Highland Park, which the mayor canceled because of the bloody deed.
The background to the crime is not yet known. An eyewitness told CNN that he saw several injured and lifeless people lying on the ground. “It was heartbreaking.” He heard around 30 pops. People fled the parade. “It was just chaotic.” The Lake County Sheriff’s Office tweeted, “Stay out of the area – let the police and first responders do their job.”
US President Biden was “shocked by the senseless gun violence”
The US has long struggled with massive levels of gun violence. At the end of May, an 18-year-old gunman massacred a Texas elementary school. He had killed 19 children and 2 teachers in the small town of Uvalde at the end of May before he was shot dead by the police. The bloody deed had rekindled the discussion about stricter gun laws in the USA. Firearms are relatively easy to obtain in the United States.
US President Joe Biden said he was “shocked by the senseless gun violence that once again brought sadness to an American community on Independence Day.” His statement said: “I will not give up the fight against the epidemic of gun violence.” Biden and his Democrats have long called for tougher gun laws. Far-reaching reforms repeatedly fail due to opposition from Republicans in Congress and the influence of the powerful gun lobby organization NRA.