A gunman shot children in the head during a July 4th parade in Highland Park, a wealthy suburb of Chicago, on Monday, according to witnesses who saw the incident.
According to reports, the shooter, who is still at large, started shooting from the roof of what was once an outdoor outfitting store, killing those in the crowd who initially mistook the sound of gunshots for fireworks over the Fourth of July.
He is characterised as having long black hair, a “slight build,” and an age range of 18 to 20. He attacked with a gun, which he then abandoned before running away, and is sporting a white or blue t-shirt.
According to the police, he was firing from a roof near the parade route.
Less than 15 minutes had passed since the parade started when the shooting started.
The accounts of witnesses who observed youngsters being picked off in the mob are now coming in.
‘All of a sudden everyone behind us started running. I looked back, probably 20 feet away from me, I saw a girl shot and killed. I saw her die. I’ve never seen anything like this,’ a woman, who gave her name only as Zoe, told CNN.
Police say they recovered a ‘rifle’ at the scene but witnesses described multiple rounds being fired in quick succession which they say could only have come from a semi-automatic.
‘A rifle? No, no. It was an automatic weapon. It was pop, pop, pop, rifles don’t do that,’ she said.
The Governor of Illinois was among the first to call for an end to gun violence after the shooting.
Zoe, the woman who witnessed a little girl being shot in the head, said the event was for children and dogs who had just passed by when the gunman opened fire.
‘One man had been shot in the head, his ear, he was bleeding all over, and he was, like, I’m just happy that’s all happened.
‘There was another girl that got escorted out that was shot in the leg. We were hiding in the basement for quite a while.
‘I mean, someone, 20 feet away, you know, someone — and then we went back to get our cars and we saw the streets were quite littered.
‘It looked like a battle zone and it’s disgusting.
‘It was — you know, everyone obviously remembers the Boston marathon massacre, like a happy marathon, and it’s just a happy day. It’s the Fourth of July.
‘It was the kid’s parade and dog parade. Little kids on bicycles and pets.
‘That’s who had just walked by,’ she said.
Witnesses described a ‘sickening’ scene and is it feared that children are among the dead.
‘I saw multiple lifeless bodies, people in a pool of blood.
Miles Zaremsky, a 74-year-old lawyer who has lived in Highland Park since for 60 years, told DailyMail.com: ‘I witnessed the carnage. It was nice outside weather-wise, so I took a walk twenty minutes from my house.
’I heard multiple shots and I thought it was firecracker… but I heard multiple shots, 30-35 pops if I had to guess.
‘The crowd started stampeding. I had ever seen that before. I saw blood on people’s bodies.
‘Two or three people looked deceased to me[around 25 to 40 years of age]. It was absolutely disgusting and gut-wrenching and I was sick to my stomach.
’I did see a little boy [covered in blood] in his parents’ arms who looked [pale]. They were yelling for medics … It’s surreal, it’s like out of a science fiction but it is real.
‘My wife and I have been living in Highland Park since 1966. It is a beautiful, charming, peaceful, law-abiding community.
‘If it can happen here, it can happen in any community in the United States.’
President Biden – who has been calling for gun reform since the Uvalde shooting on May 24 which claimed 19 lives – has not yet commented on the shooting. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has been briefed.
Governor JB Pritzker said in a statement: ‘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 live behind. I will stand firm with Illinoisans and Americans: we must – and we will – end this plague of gun violence.’
Debbie Glickman, a Highland Park resident, said she was on a parade float with coworkers and the group was prepared to turn onto the main route when she saw people running away from the area.
‘People started saying `There’s a shooter, there’s a shooter, there is a shooter”‘ Glickman said.
‘So we just ran. We just ran. It’s like mass chaos down there. I’m so freaked out,” she said.
‘We can’t believe this happened in our little town.’
Matt Phillip, 36, director of tasting room operating at Lynfred Winery, told DailyMail.com: ‘We were open early for the parade and upon hearing what sounded like fireworks, we noticed that people started running down the street.’
‘We opened our doors so they could either seek shelter within our facility or exit through our back-alley door.’
He said thirty people sheltered inside his store.
‘There is still a shelter-in-place order in Highland Park.
Among those missing are the parents of one of her friends, she said.
Highland Park is renowned for being one of Chicago’s most affluent suburbs; Michael Jordan owns a mansion in the area, and it is also where enormous mansion featured in Home Alone is.
It is among a cluster of wealthy suburbs along the North Shore next to Lake Michigan.
The town’s Mayor, Nancy Rotering, spoke briefly at a press conference along with law enforcement on Monday to share her condolences with the families of those killed.
None of the victims have been named and it’s unclear how old they are.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot tweeted: ‘The tragedy unfolding in Highland Park is devastating.
‘I have been in contact with Mayor Rotering and have offered our support, and the Chicago Police Department is providing assistance.
‘We grieve with the families of the deceased and injured as well as the entire Highland Park community.
‘Law enforcement is working hard to bring the shooter into custody.
‘If anyone has information, we encourage them to call 911 and report what you know.’
In contrast to Chicago, which has one of the worst records for gun violence in the nation, violent crime is virtually unheard of in Highland Park.
In April 2022, the median price of a property in Highland Park was $714,000, and there were about 30,000 people living there.