HOW THE 4TH OF JULY IS CELEBRATED ..... IN TEXAS WE SHOOT OUR GUNS UP INTO THE AIR, BUT IN CHICAGO THEY SHOOT PEOPLE WITH THEIR GUNS

At least 6 dead, dozens hurt in Highland Park July Fourth parade shooting 

 

By Emily Crane

 

 

New York Post 

July 4, 2022

 

 

A Lake County police officer holds his head in his hands in disbelief  as he walks down Central Avenue in Highland Park on Monday

 

Six people are dead and at least 24 injured in a mass shooting at a 4th of July parade in the wealthy Chicago suburb of Highland Park on Monday, authorities said.

Police said the gunman, who was still on the loose hours later, randomly opened fire with a “high-powered rifle” from the roof of a building overlooking the parade route shortly after 10 a.m.

The shooter, who police warned is still “armed and dangerous”, was described as a white male with long dark hair and is aged 18 to 20 years. He was wearing a blue or white t-shirt, police said.

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. 

 

Police deploy after gunfire erupted at a Fourth of July parade route in the wealthy Chicago suburb of Highland Park on Jul. 4, 2022

 

“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.

The rifle was recovered from the rooftop where the gunman opened fire from, cops said, adding the shooter was “discreet and difficult to see” when he started killing off innocent revelers.

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.

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

“He could be in the city, he could be somewhere else,” Lake County Major Crime Task Force spokesman Christopher Covelli said at a news conference.

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

“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.

Police said the majority of the slain victims died at the scene. 

“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.

“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.”

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.  

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THESE SHOOTINGS HAVE TO STOP, OTHERWISE CONGRESS WILL MAKE BIDEN HAVE AN ORGASM BY PASSING STRICT GUN CONTROLS

Angry Americans call out gun violence, politicians after Chicago-area parade shooting 

 

By Gabrielle Fonrouge

 

Law enforcement officers investigate the scene of a mass shooting at a 4th of July celebration and parade in Highland Park, Illinois, USA, 04 July 2022. A gunman opened fire as people gathered to watch a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois, killing at least six people and injuring dozens

 

Fed-up Americans lambasted the country’s gun-violence crisis Monday after a shooter opened fire at a Fourth of July parade outside of Chicago, killing at least six and wounding 24. 

“I grew up in Highland Park and this parade is a highlight of the year for so many families,” actress Rachel Brosnahan wrote on Twitter Monday in response to the shooting in the wealthy suburb. 

“I’m sick to my stomach every time news like this comes out, but I don’t wish the pit in your stomach as you call your family and friends to make sure everyone is okay on anyone. No words.”

 

Chairs, strollers and bikes were abandoned as the owners fled for their lives

 

It’s unclear how the shooting started or if the gunman has been apprehended. 

New York Times bestselling author Melanie Benjamin wrote a tweet blaming the NRA and Republican politicians for the violence. 

“Mass shooting at a 4th of July parade in Highland Park, a very affluent suburb 25 miles north of Chicago. Thank you, N-fuc***g-R-A, Mitch McConnell & all the other politicians in that terrorist organization’s pocket,” wrote Benjamin, who penned “Mistress of the Ritz” among other tomes. 

 

.Law enforcement officers searching for the gunman

 

Congressman Sean Casten (D-IL) tweeted, “Not again.” 

“I am so sick of a US Senate that keeps watching people get shot and keeps concluding that the thing we need to protect more than anything else at this moment is the filibuster,” Casten wrote. 

“Half-assed platitudes in lieu of action are killing people.”