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HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. — Police arrested a “person of interest” Monday evening, hours after six people were killed and dozens were injured in a Fourth of July parade shooting earlier in the day.

Robert E. Crimo III led police on a brief chase after they found him on a road before authorities arrested him “without incident,” Highland Park Police Chief Lou Jogmen told reporters. Six people died and more than 40 people were hospitalized after a shooting at the Highland Park Fourth of July parade earlier Monday, authorities said.

Shortly after 10 a.m., as the parade in downtown Highland Park was three-quarters of the way done, the shooter began firing into the crowd from atop a building, seeming to target observers, until police approached, authorities say. The gunman escaped, leading law enforcement on a manhunt. A high-powered rifle was recovered by police.

Five people died at the scene, and one died at a hospital. As of 7:40 p.m. local time, hospital officials said seven people were still being treated at facilities in Highland Park and Evanston.

<a href="https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/highland-park-fourth-of-july-parade-shooting?taid=62c30f652e631c00013417a0" target=_blank>Video from the scene</a> showed blood pooled on the sidewalk; nearby, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/07/04/highland-park-parade-shooting/#link-LKEINUONG5D6HDDLVRDMY7VKB4" target=_blank>chairs, toys and blankets were strewn</a>, left behind in a chaotic escape from gunfire.

Authorities in Highland Park and other area cities canceled their Fourth of July events in response to the shooting.

People sent to hospitals for treatment ranged in age from 8 to 85, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/07/04/highland-park-parade-shooting/#link-BLSRPQF7WRAXZOISVKYT6HDC7A" target=_blank>medical workers said</a>.

Highland Park is an affluent suburb about 25 miles north of Chicago’s downtown, along the shore of Lake Michigan.

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The shooting at a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Ill., on Monday is likely to reignite a national debate about gun control in the United States, as politicians and advocates — <a href="https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-chicago-gun-laws-306468736022" target=_blank>not for the first time</a> — use Illinois as an example of what stricter gun laws can and cannot do when it comes to preventing mass shootings.

After a shooting at an <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/05/30/uvalde-biden-gun-laws/?itid=lk_inline_manual_14" target=_blank>elementary school in Uvalde, Tex.</a>, in May, Gov. Greg Abbott (R-Tex.) said Chicago shows that strict gun laws don’t prevent mass shootings. “There are, quote, ‘real’ gun laws in New York. There are ‘real’ gun laws in California. I hate to say this, but there are more people who were shot every weekend in Chicago than there are in schools in Texas,” he said.

Meanwhile, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kd5F3839gc" target=_blank>Sen. Tammy Duckworth</a> (D-Ill.) argued that Monday’s shooting should spur federal authorities into action on gun control. “We have to get rid of assault weapons, high-capacity magazines” and enact many other “common-sense reforms that wide majorities of Americans are crying out for,” she said.

“The last time I heard a weapon with that capacity firing that rapidly on a Fourth of July was Iraq,” Duckworth, who lost both legs in the Iraq War when her helicopter was shot down, said after listening to video recordings of the shooting. “It was not the United States of America.”

So, what does Illinois law say about guns, and how does that track with gun violence in the state?

Illinois has <a href="https://giffords.org/lawcenter/gun-laws/states/illinois/" target=_blank>comparatively strict gun laws</a>. In most cases, those wishing to acquire a gun in the state must <a href="https://giffords.org/lawcenter/state-laws/universal-background-checks-in-illinois/" target=_blank>pass a background check</a> and get a license from law enforcement. Authorities can revoke the license of anyone convicted of domestic battery and a host of other serious crimes. Illinois ranks eighth in the nation in gun-law strength, according to the <a href="https://giffords.org/lawcenter/resources/scorecard/" target=_blank>Giffords Law Center</a>, an institute that advocates for gun control.

Illinois has the 27th-highest gun-death rate in the nation, with 14.1 gun deaths per year per 100,000 people, according to Giffords. As <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/03/24/key-gun-violence-loophole-its-easy-guns-cross-state-borders/?itid=lk_inline_manual_19" target=_blank>The Washington Post’s Philip Bump wrote last year</a>, while Illinois is strict about guns, its neighbors are not.

Using 2019 data from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Bump wrote that half of the firearms recovered in Illinois that year came from out of state. One out of 6 came from neighboring Indiana, which <a href="https://giffords.org/lawcenter/resources/scorecard/" target=_blank>Giffords ranks</a> 26th in the nation in gun-law strength.

Police have not said where the gun that was used in Highland Park on Monday came from.

<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interactive/2022/uvalde-buffalo-mass-shootings-gun-control-laws/?itid=lk_inline_manual_22" target=_blank>The Post also analyzed 41 gun-related mass killings</a> in the United States since 2015 to understand whether gun-control measures proposed by leading politicians and advocates could have prevented them. “Only about one-third of these<b> </b>mass killings might have been prevented by any major proposals,” it found. “But some ideas — such as not allowing people under age 21 to buy assault rifles and banning … magazines that hold more than 10 rounds — might have minimized the bloodshed.”

As <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/05/27/what-research-shows-effectiveness-gun-control-laws/?itid=lk_inline_manual_23" target=_blank>The Post’s Glenn Kessler recently wrote</a>, “many proposed laws probably would not have much impact on curbing the mass shootings that dominate the news. But they could lessen their severity, and might also bring down overall gun violence” — notably by reducing the number of <a href="https://www.aafp.org/about/policies/all/gun-violence.html" target=_blank>suicides</a>, which Kessler noted account for about 60 percent of overall gun deaths in the United States.

Annabelle Timsit

‘Its like dodge city’: Philadelphia mayor reacts to July Fourth shooting

Philadelphia’s mayor, frustrated with U.S. gun laws, said Monday he looked forward to the day he leaves his role because he is always on the lookout for a shooting at big events.

“I’m concerned every single day,” Mayor Jim Kenny told reporters late Monday after the sound of gunfire sent a crowd in Philadelphia fleeing and two police officers were shot. It was hours after a shooter <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/07/04/fatal-shooting-independence-day-parade/?itid=lk_inline_manual_27" target="_blank">killed six people and injured dozens</a> at a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Ill., adding to a list of mass shootings that have fueled a heated debate over gun control.

“We have to come to grips with what this country is about right now,” Kenny said. “We had a beautiful day out there today except for some nitwit shooting … who has a gun and probably shouldn’t have had it.”

In recent weeks, mass-casualty shootings have rocked American cities and towns. At <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/06/01/buffalo-shooting-indictment/?itid=lk_inline_manual_16&itid=lk_inline_manual_29">a Buffalo grocery store</a>, 10 Black people were killed May 14, and 19 children and two adults were massacred <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/05/28/uvalde-classroom-police-911-failure/?itid=lk_inline_manual_29" target="_blank">at an elementary school in Uvalde</a>, Tex., 10 days later.

“I don’t enjoy the Fourth of July. I don’t enjoy the Democratic National Convention. I didn’t enjoy the NFL draft,” Kenny added. “I’m waiting for something bad to happen all the time, so I’ll be happy when I’m not mayor and I can enjoy some stuff.”

Ellen Francis

A father hid his son in a dumpster before running back to find the rest of his family during the shooting at Highland Park’s July Fourth parade.

Alexander Sandoval <a href="https://twitter.com/Phil_Lewis_/status/1544031390244765697?s=20&t=XlsOahvybsnfWt-M6Vqf_w">told WGN9</a> that on his way back, he saw people shot on the ground and a young boy being carried away.

“That was the worst part of all of this, being a father and hiding your children and seeing a little boy carried away,” Sandoval said. “I can’t imagine what that family’s going through right now.”

The Highland Park Police have set up a reunification post at the department for family and friends who got separated during the shooting.

Praveena Somasundaram

Celebrities from Highland Park — the affluent Chicago suburb where a gunman killed at least six people and injured about 40 more at a Fourth of July parade Monday — condemned the deadly shooting, which they said hit close to home. Among those speaking out Monday were singer Richard Marx, actress Rachel Brosnahan and director Ken Olin.

“My heart is always broken by these constant mass shootings no matter where they occur but today I’m extra heartbroken. And extra angry at the senselessness,” Marx, 58, the singer best known for his 1989 No. 1 single, “Right Here Waiting,” said Monday in a Twitter post.

Brosnahan, 31, the actress best known for her leading role as Miriam Maisel in the Amazon series “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” said she grew up in Highland Park, where families looked forward to the Fourth of July parade as “a highlight of the year.”

“Enough is enough is enough is enough is enough is enough is enough is enough is enough,” <a href="https://twitter.com/RachelBros/status/1544024451599273985?s=20&t=El2sEYvCxWnYWsW7OGAkRg" target=_blank>she added</a>, along with a link to a donation page for the gun-control advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety.

Olin, 67, the director and actor best known for his Golden Globe-winning role as Michael Steadman in the ABC series “Thirtysomething,” said he <a href="https://twitter.com/kenolin1/status/1544011646221164544" target=_blank>went to the Fourth of July parade “every year”</a> as a young boy growing up in Highland Park.

In later tweets, Olin called out the <a href="https://twitter.com/kenolin1/status/1544046012381114369?s=20&t=aTE09otZFs_RS3wiUEXN8w" target=_blank>National Rifle Association</a> and the Republican Party for their stance against gun control and encouraged people to “vote Blue in 22.”

The mayor of the Chicago suburb where a gunman killed six people and injured dozens at a Fourth of July parade Monday called the shooting “the bloodiest day that we have ever experienced in Highland Park.”

Some central roads remained closed Tuesday for an FBI investigation, many public events were canceled, and crisis counseling was available at Highland Park High School, Mayor Nancy Rotering said in a statement. Flags in Highland Park will fly at half-staff, she added.

The mayor said she has received messages from her counterparts across the country, including “many who lead communities that have experienced this pain and tragedy.”

Police arrested a “person of interest” Monday evening after a shooter perched on a rooftop <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/07/04/fatal-shooting-independence-day-parade/?itid=lk_inline_manual_50" target="_blank">fired dozens of rounds at parade spectators</a>, adding another name to the list of American cities and towns hit by mass-casualty shootings. <a href="https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/highland-park-fourth-of-july-parade-shooting?taid=62c30f652e631c00013417a0">Footage</a> showed blood pooled on the sidewalk on the Highland Park parade route, with chairs, toys and blankets strewn nearby after people ran from the gunfire.

“Our community, like so many before us, is devastated,” Rotering said, thanking first responders for “their bravery and extraordinary efforts,” as well as members of the community who rushed to help. “It’s impossible to imagine the pain of this kind of tragedy until it happens in your backyard,” she said.

Howard Prager, 66, had just started playing his tuba atop a band parade float when he saw hundreds of people running toward him.

He recalled the piano player beside him saying, “Something’s up.”

While playing his tuba, Prager hadn’t heard the sounds of gunshots that had caused the crowd to flee.

“And all of a sudden, we started to see people running towards us,” he said. “It felt like a disaster.”

Prager, a resident of a nearby suburb, Vernon Hills, said the band’s driver took them back to the parking lot, where other people told them there was a shooting.

Prager said he remembered thinking that July Fourth is a holiday when “everyone in the country comes together.”

He said he never thought something violent would happen at the parade.

“It makes me numb,” he said. “It just makes me numb.”

Gunfire at a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park

A Highland Park native had raised more than $40,000 in support of the victims of the Fourth of July shooting as of early Tuesday.

Danielle Sharfman said the Highland Park City Council, Mayor Nancy R. Rotering and the town’s human relations committee would be involved in distributing the <a href="https://www.gofundme.com/f/victims-of-the-highland-park-july-4th-shooting?qid=ea844d872dd2c81fc26e88b9784ccc3e" target=_blank>GoFundMe </a>donations, which would be used to pay for funeral expenses, medical bills and mental health support for the families of the victims.

A separate <a href="https://www.gofundme.com/f/medical-bills-for-the-kolpack-joyce-family?utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet&utm_medium=copy_link_all&utm_source=customer" target=_blank>GoFundMe webpage</a> organized by a friend of one of the injured victims, Zoe Kolpack — a teacher at Dever Elementary School, <a href="https://twitter.com/CTULocal1/status/1544149633781452800">according to the Chicago Teachers Union</a> — had raised close to $100,000 as of early Tuesday.

Kolpack and three family members were shot in front of Kolpack’s children, according to Samantha Whitehead, the friend and organizer. The children were unharmed. “They are all in the hospital undergoing various surgeries, which will seriously impact these families financially,” Whitehead said.

Andrew Jeong

Twins White Sox Baseball

Professional sports teams in the Chicago area expressed solidarity with victims of the Highland Park shooting on Monday. The <a href="https://twitter.com/chicagobulls/status/1544112599595454470">Chicago Bulls</a> said the team was “committed to change” in helping “solve this epidemic of gun violence.” The Cubs lamented the “<a href="https://twitter.com/Cubs/status/1544108842690158592" target=_blank>senseless violence</a>,” and the Bears <a href="https://twitter.com/ChicagoBears/status/1544085104208781323">called</a> the shooting “disgraceful” while thanking first responders. The Blackhawks <a href="https://twitter.com/NHLBlackhawks/status/1544106953026244610">said</a>, “This simply cannot be accepted as commonplace.” And the Chicago Fire <a href="https://twitter.com/ChicagoFire/status/1544129318552576003" target=_blank>said, </a>“Enough is enough.”

The Chicago White Sox proceeded with a game against the Minnesota Twins this evening after consulting with Major League Baseball, but the team said it would cancel the postgame Fourth of July fireworks. A moment of silence before the first pitch was dedicated to victims.

The White Sox closer, Australian Liam Hendriks, told reporters before the game that “something needs to be done” about gun violence in the United States. “I don’t think enough is being done,” he said. “Too many people are dying.”

Hendriks said he was “baffled” by American gun culture. “I can walk into a store as a non-American and buy a handgun in certain states. And that baffles me, because … I had to take a driving test when I was over here. I won’t have to take a test if I want to get a gun,” he said. “That’s stupid. Whoever thought that was a great idea is an idiot.”

Australia <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/06/22/what-happened-when-australia-actually-did-something-to-stop-gun-violence/?itid=lk_inline_manual_73" target="_blank">launched </a>a gun buyback program after 35 people were killed in a 1996 mass shooting in the state of Tasmania. Authorities <a href="http://www.gunpolicy.org/documents/5337-australia-firearm-amnesty-buyback-and-destruction-totals/file">purchased and destroyed</a> more than 650,000 privately held guns by 2001 and collected nearly 70,000 handguns in a second buyback in 2003. Since then, the country has had no mass shootings — defined as five or more victims shot and killed, not including the shooter.

Chaos erupts at July Fourth celebrations in Philadelphia

Hours after six people were killed and dozens injured in a shooting at a Fourth of July celebration in Illinois, a large crowd near downtown Philadelphia for another holiday event scattered after gunshots were heard shortly before 10 p.m.

Two police officers were shot but have been released after being treated at a hospital, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw told reporters. She said law enforcement was pursuing leads but no arrests have been made.

The city’s emergency management office said on social media shortly after 10 p.m. that a “security incident” had taken place on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, a major avenue that cuts through the city. The public was advised to avoid the area.

Videos circulating on social media show people running away and attempting to scale safety barriers as fireworks went off in the background. The fireworks display capped a concert featuring musicians such as Ava Max.

There was a heavy first-responder presence on the parkway shortly after midnight, according to a live feed of the scene.

Katerina Ang

People across the United States were already on high alert following high-profile mass shootings in recent weeks, but Monday’s tragedy in Illinois exacerbated fears, with the sound of Fourth of July fireworks sending people scrambling at celebrations across the country.

At a fireworks show in Orlando, people fled as loud pops echoed throughout the area, and some spectators suffered minor injuries during the commotion, police <a href="https://twitter.com/OrlandoPolice/status/1544141511348076544?s=20&t=eHasipcIzb_exSjOBr-RcA" target=_blank>said</a>. Authorities said there was no shooting and that it was probably the sound of fireworks that caused confusion.

In Harrisburg, Pa., chaos spread at a fireworks display, but authorities likewise said there was no shooting there. “The fact that you have to be ready for a mass shooting at any moment is proof of a country rotten to its core,” one witness <a href="https://twitter.com/BrianKeisling/status/1544137027964522496?s=20&t=3fmdZS1KWHEEgkrt5myr6g" target=_blank>wrote</a> on Twitter.

In Washington, D.C., two loud noises near 11th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW prompted people nearby to rush toward the National Mall. Authorities on the scene confirmed the sounds were fireworks and said the noises probably sparked alarm.

Last week, false alarms clouded <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/06/27/sf-pride-parade-shooting-fear-new-york/?itid=lk_inline_manual_86" target="_blank">Pride celebrations in New York City and San Francisco</a>, prompting panicked crowds to scatter.

<i>Caroline Pineda contributed to this report.</i>

Bryan Pietsch

6 Dead After Shooting At Fourth Of July Parade In Chicago Suburb

Jacki Sundheim, a special-events coordinator at a Chicago-area synagogue, was one of the first victims identified among those killed Monday in the shooting in Highland Park, Ill.

North Shore Congregation Israel <a href="https://www.nsci.org/jacki-sundheim" target=_blank>said </a>in a statement that Sundheim had been a lifelong congregant and a cherished member of its staff for decades. “Jacki’s work, kindness and warmth touched us all, from her early days teaching at the Gates of Learning Preschool to guiding innumerable among us through life’s moments of joy and sorrow,” the statement said.

Sundheim leaves behind her husband Bruce; daughter Leah; sister Tracy; and niece Becca, the synagogue’s senior rabbi, Wendi Geffen, <a href="https://twitter.com/MaherABC7/status/1544154830255652864/photo/1" target=_blank>said</a> in a letter to congregants. “Due to this immense loss, all programs, classes and meetings at NSCI for tomorrow will be canceled,” she said.

In an interview with a Chicago news station, Paul Crimo, who identified himself as Robert Crimo III’s uncle, said the man police have described as a person of interest in the Highland Park shooting was quiet and kept to himself. Crimo lived on the same property with Crimo III and his father, Robert Crimo Jr., but his nephew had his own apartment, Paul Crimo said in an <a href="https://www.fox32chicago.com/video/1088936" target=_blank>interview</a> with the Fox 32 Chicago news channel.

“I saw no signs of trouble. If I did see signs, I would have said something,” Paul Crimo said. His interactions with his nephew were infrequent, limited to saying hello and goodbye, and when the younger Crimo would help him around the house, he said.

“He’s a real quiet kid, keeps everything to himself. He doesn’t express himself, he just sits down on his computer, there’s no interaction between me and him,” Paul Crimo said. His nephew was unemployed but had worked at a Panera Bread franchise about two years ago, he said. “He didn’t go to college, he was a YouTube rapper.”

Paul Crimo said he didn’t know where his nephew would have gotten a weapon.

“I’m deeply, deeply sorry for everyone that lost their lives and got injured,” Paul Crimo said. “My heart is shattered.”

Gerrit De Vynck

HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. — As darkness fell over the city Monday night, massive floodlights were erected over the scene of the shooting along Central Avenue, where dozens of law enforcement agents walked slowly in tandem searching for evidence.

FBI agents examined business entrances in the downtown area, in what appeared to be a search for security cameras that might have captured footage of the gunman before or after the deadly shooting. A parking lot outside a Jewel-Osco supermarket about a mile away had been cordoned off with yellow caution tape and turned into a work site for county, state and federal law enforcement officers. A police helicopter flew in low circles over the city.

Along Green Bay Road, a block from where gunfire erupted, satellite trucks were parked bumper-to-bumper — just feet from where lawn chairs stood in formation, left behind by paradegoers who ran for their lives. Small groups of people walked up to the scene, peering over the yellow tape as investigators worked.

Melanie Smith stood with her young children, whose names she did not want to share. “I can’t believe this happened here,” said Smith, who grew up in nearby Lake Forest. She had been coming to the parade for years — as a child and now as a mother — but they woke up late and did not attend the parade in the morning.

“If you are not here early to get a spot, it’s almost not worth it,” Smith said.

Now a place that had offered so much joy for her and others was a site of anguish. “You never imagine something like this could happen where you live. But isn’t that what everyone says?” she said. “It’s sad. It’s just sad. … I don’t know how this became normal in America.”

A distant crackle caused Smith to look around nervously. In the distance, a burst of red fireworks lit up the sky. “That’s not nice,” she said of the pyrotechnics, as she gathered her children to walk back to their car.

Holly Bailey

Two patients are being treated at Highland Park Hospital and five are being treated at Evanston Hospital, said Jim Anthony, a spokesman for NorthShore University HealthSystem. Most of the dozens of injured people have been discharged.

The hospital system is no longer on lockdown, Anthony said.

Robert Crimo III — the man who police believe is responsible for the parade shooting — appears to have shared violent images on various social media platforms before the attack, but thus far there is no clear indication of an ideological motive.

On Spotify, Crimo had posted songs as Awake the Rapper as far back as 2017. YouTube videos posted by an account that utilized his name feature monologues about the internet and poetry set to music, as well as music videos for his songs.

One video shows a drawing of a stick figure wearing what appears to be tactical military gear and using a rifle to shoot another figure. Some of the videos are set in a school classroom.

In photos released by police and on his social media profiles, the 22-year-old is seen as slight, with a patchy beard and tattoos on his face and neck, including one above his left eyebrow that reads “Awake,” the alias he used when posting rap songs online.

Photos showing Crimo attending a rally for former president Donald Trump have also surfaced, but it is not clear from his online postings that he was a supporter of Trump or any other political party or candidate.

“He was immersed in fringe internet culture. But nothing uncovered so far suggests a clear political or ideological motive,” said Emerson T. Brooking, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab, which researches how information spreads online. That sets him apart from the suspects in the Buffalo, El Paso and Poway, Calif., shootings, he said. The shooters in those cases had <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/05/15/buffalo-shooter-great-replacement-extremism/?itid=lk_inline_manual_116" target=_blank>posted manifestos online</a> outlying racist beliefs.

“The closest thing to a manifesto appears to be a 28-page book he self-published on Amazon in February 2021, which is either in a cipher or, more likely, complete nonsense,” Brooking said.

Highland Park will offer counseling for students, staff and community members of Township High School District 113 on Tuesday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., the city announced Monday.

Counseling professionals will be available at Highland Park High School, the city’s news release said. People who are not district students or staff members will be required to show a valid driver’s license, which is standard for school visitors, according to the release.

The city is helping provide the counseling through a partnership with District 113, Highland Park High School and the Park District of Highland Park.

“As we grieve together as a community, we need to support each other as a community,” the news release said. “In the aftermath of this unthinkable tragedy, we are stronger together.”

HIGHWOOD, Ill. — Several people living near the home of Robert E. Crimo III were among those who marched in the parade where at least six people were killed Monday.

Crimo, a “person of interest” in the shootings, was arrested Monday evening, but shortly before the 22-year-old was in police custody, his neighbors talked about their morning that ended with six people dead and scores injured.

Beatrice Simon, 38, marched in the parade with her church like she does every year, she said, and when the shooting started: “I thought it was just the drums.”

“Then, when it happened again, I started crying,” Simon said Monday evening. “I tried to find my [12-year-old] son. We ran east to [Lake Michigan]. My friends picked me up.”

When she heard that police wanted to talk to Crimo, who was living “by my safe space — my house — it’s terrifying. … I started crying for three hours and couldn’t stop.”

Police had not publicly accused Crimo of the shooting as of Monday evening.

“That’s why we live in Highwood, it’s our safe space,” Simon said. “To be part of this is terrible.”

Mark Guarino

For the Toledo family, going to the July Fourth parade in Highland Park is<b> </b>a family tradition.

The Toledos pack their lawn chairs and coolers and walk to the same spot each year — in front of Uncle Dan’s outdoor store, near the intersection of 2nd Street and Central Avenue.

On Monday, a gunman began shooting from a rooftop near where the family was watching the parade, killing Nicolás Toledo, 78, and injuring others nearby.

Toledo, who went to the parade with more than 10 other family members, was one of at least six victims who died.

“It’s just horrific,” Toledo’s grandson, David Toledo, said of when his cousin called to tell him. “No one should ever receive that call.”

Nicolás Toledo was a loving father and grandfather, who spent most of the last three decades after immigrating to the United States in Highland Park, David Toledo said.

“He was a funny guy,” David Toledo, 30, said. “Always playful, always cracking jokes and playing with his grandkids. He would always make us laugh.”

He said his grandfather emigrated<b> </b>from Morelos, Mexico, in the 1980s, settling<b> </b>down alongside family members in the Chicago area. Nicolás Toledo loved being outdoors, especially fishing in Fox Lake.

David Toledo, who lives in Chicago, said the last time he saw his grandfather was at a gathering at his aunt’s house in Highland Park. The family watched over him together, sharing responsibilities of taking care of him — but that didn’t stop the jokes and playfulness, David Toledo said.

“I would ask if he needed help. He’s like ‘No, I’m okay. I’m good,’ ” he said. “And I was like ‘Are you sure? I mean, you’re getting old now.’ ”

In the coming days, David Toledo said he and his family will focus on coming together, checking in on each other and planning his grandfather’s funeral.

They might also, David Toledo added, go down to Fox Lake to catch fish to fry for a family meal — something his grandfather would’ve liked.

“He did that a lot in Mexico,” he said. “So maybe that’s a good way to remember him.”

Now, a parade that once held fond memories for the family, is tainted by Monday’s events. David Toledo said he’s unsure if they’ll feel safe or comforted by attending future parades.

“This is such a horrible memory, so I don’t know if we’ll go back,” he said.

Police arrested Robert Crimo III Monday evening, saying they believe he was responsible for the mass shooting during a July Fourth parade in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park.

The arrest came after an hours-long manhunt as police swarmed the area, looking for the gunman responsible for killing six people and injuring dozens more. Police did not say they had filed charges but said they believed Crimo was the shooter.

“This individual is believed to be responsible for what happened,” Highland Park Police Chief Lou Jogmen said during a news conference.

Crimo, 22, was earlier named by police as a person of interest and described as a young White man driving a silver Honda Fit. North Chicago police spotted his vehicle, called in support and arrested him after a short car chase, police said at the news conference.

As crowds of visitors descended on downtown Washington on Monday for <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/07/04/dc-july4th-celebration-protests/?itid=lk_inline_manual_154" target=_blank>the National Independence Day Parade</a>, few seemed rattled by the mass shooting that disrupted similar festivities in Highland Park, Ill.

Lines for museums were well out the door, and thousands set up blankets to picnic and prepare for fireworks later in the evening. Many people said the violence didn’t affect their decision to come out to the National Mall, since they were looking for a way to relax and celebrate during a tense political climate.

Vanderbilt University students Rachael Perrotta and Andrew Hu, both 20, were already on the Mall when they learned about the shooting. The news prompted their parents to express concerns about their safety downtown.

But the younger generation has been “desensitized to it,” Perrotta said.

“It’s very much so what we grew up with,” she added, walking near the Mall after a visit to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. “I don’t think it instills the same fear as it does for older generations, which is really sad.”

Kelly Silva, 38, sat in a grove of trees overlooking the Washington Monument in the late afternoon, watching over a picnic blanket and a box of chicken wings. She said she felt safe despite just hearing the news of the shooting in Illinois.

“Hopefully it won’t happen [here] this year,” she said. “I see a lot of officers around.”

Silva, who lives in the District and normally brings her family to watch the July 4 fireworks every year, said she’s “happy because everything’s coming back to normal.”

<i>Teo Armus contributed to this report.</i>

Daniel Wu

Caroline Pineda

Gaya Gupta

HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. — This is not the first public mass shooting on the North Shore.

In May 1988, Laurie Wasserman Dann entered a school in Winnetka, another nearby affluent suburb, and shot children in a classroom.

There was a search for Dann as well, and many people in this community were talking about her on Monday. Dann stopped at another school in Highland Park, where she started a small fire before moving on to the Winnetka school where the shooting took place.

Dann delivered poisoned food and fruit juice to at least eight locations, including the residences of five former babysitting clients, before she went on a shooting rampage in a second-grade classroom in Winnetka, police said at the time.

An 8-year-old boy was killed and five other children were critically wounded in the shooting at Hubbard Woods Elementary School, according to a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1988/05/22/tainted-food-tied-to-school-rampage/aee08358-7d16-4725-814e-10f16c9b3492/?itid=lk_inline_manual_168" target=_blank>report that day</a>. Dann, identified as the assailant, later shot herself to death in a nearby house after she had critically wounded a 20-year-old swimming champion who had tried to wrestle her gun away.

Police said fruit juice cartons, snacks and cookies mysteriously had appeared in mailboxes and at the back doors of homes in three affluent North Shore suburbs and at two fraternities at nearby Northwestern University.

A note attached to one batch of Rice Krispies bars said: “Love your sisters. Enjoy.”

Susan Berger

Bill Peterson

Police were searching for a “person of interest” in Monday’s parade shooting: Robert E. Crimo III, 22, who is from the area.

Crimo was believed to be driving a silver 2010 Honda Fit with an Illinois license plate and was considered “armed and dangerous,” officials said.

Highland Park shooting Police arrest ‘person of interest’ after gunman killed 6 at parade

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