Suspect in 4th of July Parade Massacre Arrested

First modification: 07/05/2022 – 10:57

Police arrested a 22-year-old man on Monday suspected in the shooting spree that left at least 6 dead and 24 wounded at a US Independence Day parade in an affluent Chicago suburb.

The suspect, identified as Robert Crimo, was taken into custody after a pursuit outside Chicago. The man, armed with a powerful rifle, fired from a rooftop into the crowd that had gathered for the traditional July 4 parade in Highland Park, a town of 30,000 inhabitants in the state of Illinois.

“The victims were attending the Independence Day celebration, which took on a somber tone due to the human devastation caused by the attack, added to the disarray of hundreds of people fleeing bloodied in all directions trying to save their lives, and leaving behind children’s bicycles, lawn chairs and blankets on which people planned to lie down to celebrate American independence outdoors, “explains the correspondent of RFI in the United States Xavier Vila.

“This new deadly shooting comes just days after Congress unexpectedly passed a bipartisan bill that makes it slightly more difficult for young, unregistered people, like the one who might have committed this assault, to access semi-automatic assault weapons,” the correspondent said. of RFI.

This massacre occurred within the framework of a wave of armed violence that is sweeping the United States, where approximately 40,000 people are killed annually by firearms.

The debate over gun control, which deeply divides society, has reignited after the two most recent killings, that of 10 African-Americans in upstate New York and that of 19 students and two teachers at an elementary school. from the town of Uvalde, Texas.

According to the Gun Violence Archive website, in 2022 there will be 309 recorded shootings in the United States, including at least three others on July 4, without victims.