The gun used in the July 4 parade in Central Highlands Park, which killed and injured six people, was a large-capacity rifle “similar to the AR-15”, police said. said at a briefing on Tuesday.
Authorities initially said they had recovered a “rifle” along the route of the 4th of July parade and that they were deliberately withholding more details as they tracked down the gunman.
Sgt. Christopher Covelli, of the Lake County Main Crime Task Force, later revealed the gunman escaped from prison and fired more than 70 bullets into the crowd from a rooftop of the business.
Law enforcement first identified suspect Robert E Crimo, 22, through DNA found on the rifle.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives conducted a quick search of the rifle to determine where the gun was last sold and to whom.
Mr Crimo was said to be a person of interest and was arrested about eight hours later following a brief chase with police. He has not been formally charged.
Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering said in interviews Tuesday she believes the weapon used in the mass shooting was legally purchased. Authorities later confirmed that detail and said Mr. Crimo was in possession of other weapons, including a rifle at the time of his arrest.
Semi-automatic gunfire during the 4th of July parade
When gunfire broke out shortly after 10 a.m. CDT, hundreds of marchers in Highland Park fled, leaving shrimp, clothing and pools of blood strewn along the route in Highland Park.
In the videos of the incident, the heavy sound of semi-automatic gunfire is unmistakable.
Letham Burns told NBC News: “We heard between 20 and 30 rounds.
“It’s definitely semi-automatic, in a fast beat.”
Another witness, Dr David Baum, told NBC Chicago the injuries suffered were “terrible”.
“The kind of injury you can get in wartime, the kind of injury that can only happen when bullets can blow up the body,” he said.
Robert Crimo was arrested after an eight-hour manhunt on Monday
(Robert Crimo via REUTERS)
Many people took shelter wherever they could: in landfills, businesses and homes as the city was closed for hours.
In the recent mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas and Buffalo, New York that resulted in a total of 31 deaths, including 19 children, the 18-year-old gunmen in both cases legally purchased an AR-15. that they use.
In Uvalde, doctors and medical examiners who responded at the scene had to identify many victims through DNA, with heavy damage being the bullet-riddled bodies of primary and secondary school children.
House lawmakers passed a sweeping gun reform package last month that included raising the minimum age to buy semi-automatic rifles from 18 to 21 and banning high-volume magazines.
However, the Senate has agreed to vote on a bill that eases restrictions on raising the minimum age AR-15 can be purchased at.
Instead, the Senate bill that was signed into law increased background checks on those under the age of 21, closing the so-called “boyfriend loophole”, creating harsher penalties for gun trafficking and providing $750 million for school security and mental health services.
The AR-15 has become synonymous with mass shootings in the United States.
Semi-automatic weapons were used in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012, the Pulse nightclub attack in Orlando, Florida, in 2016, in the 2017 shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. Las Vegas and at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. School in Parkland, Florida, in 2018.
