One of the 47 victims of the shooting who were injured has passed away in the hospital, bringing the total number of fatalities in the Highland Park Fourth of July parade massacre to seven.
Sgt. Christopher Covelli, a spokesperson for the Lake County Major Crimes Task Force, confirmed the death on Tuesday.
Of the seven people murdered in the incident, two have so far been identified. According to reports, all of the victims were adults. Six people died—five on the site and one more who passed away later at a hospital.
It follows a doctor’s description of the shooting victims being “blown up” by the attacker’s powerful weapon as he raced into the chaos.
Dr. David Baum, a longtime obstetrician in Highland Park, was there to witness his two-year-old grandson march in the parade with his wife and children. He jumped into the fray to try to aid the victims when shots were fired and others fled.
Baum spoke about seeing patients with “wartime” and “unspeakable” wounds in a CNN interview.
‘The people who were gone were blown up by that gunfire,’ Baum said, ‘The horrific scene of some of those bodies is unspeakable for the average person.’
‘Having been a physician, I’ve seen things in ERs, you know, you do see lots of blood. But the bodies were literally – some of the bodies – there was an evisceration injury from the power of this gun and the bullets.’
‘There was another person who had an unspeakable head injury. Unspeakable,’ he said to CNN.
Baum also described the ‘horror’ of a community changed forever in thirty quick seconds.
‘What I saw was just families’ lives forever changed because they were walking down with their kids and their scooters and somebody who shouldn’t have had access to a high-powered rifle got up on a rooftop and decided to do what he wanted to do.
‘And the injuries that I saw – I never served – but those are wartime injuries. Those are what are seen in victims of war, not victims at a parade,’ Baum said.
Baum said that he was assisted in treating victims by at least three other doctors, a nurse, and a nurse practitioner. He remembered seeing paramedics cover up people at the scene who were already dead.
The paramedics walked about covering the victims and saying “black,” which I assume is a signal for “dead, cannot try and resuscitate,” as they pretty much all passed away at the scene.
22-year-old Robert “Bobby” Crimo III opened fire on the parade in Highland Park, a wealthy neighbourhood to the north of Chicago, leaving six people dead and at least 38 injured.
The North Shore Congregation Israel synagogue revealed in an email to members Monday night that Jacki Sundheim, a longstanding teacher there, was shot and killed by the shooter.
‘Jacki was a lifelong congregant of NSCI and a cherished member of NSCI’s staff team for decades,’ the synagogue wrote in an email that announced her murder ‘Jacki’s work, kindness and warmth touched us all.’
Sundheim, was the Reform synagogue’s events and b’nei mitzvah coordinator, according to its website. She is survived by her husband Bruce and daughter Leah, the Times of Israel reported.
‘There are no words sufficient to express the depth of our grief for Jacki’s death,’ the synagogue added.