it was 10:17 in the morning fourth of July, the time of central daylight, when Shelley Sella’s cellphone rang. He remembers the time well.
What he heard – it was his daughter Lauren – he will never forget.
“Screaming: ‘There’s a shooter, there’s a shooter, you come get us, you get us,'” Sela recalled.
“There ain’t no mother on earth, I don’t care how old your baby is, he wants to get that call.”
Lauren and her friend Amanda Levy, who were arriving from Connecticut, were at a Fourth of July parade in a small Chicago suburb on Monday. highland park When the bullets fired
“I think I’m blacked out,” said 28-year-old Levi, as she explained that some floats in the parade were seen coming to an unexpected halt.
“I was confused. And then we saw the band running on the sidewalks. And then I looked at (Lauren) and we saw a cop running in the opposite direction.
Seven people died and 38 were injured on Monday A lone gunman, sitting on a rooftop and disguised as women, opened fire at spectators as they watched the Fourth of July parade through a suburban town.
At the intersection of Central Avenue and Green Bay Road, where journalists and local residents strangely mingled on Tuesday in what was becoming an uneasy American ritual, remnants of an abandoned national holiday were still on display.
Folded folding chairs, small flags fluttering in the wind and a baby pink bicycle were still visible behind police barricades, a testament to the time when the festive, patriotic fervor of the community was mingled with panic.
Collection of flowers and handwritten expressions of mourning grew steadily during the afternoon as residents and visitors paid tribute by stepping on a strip of police tape.
Sela and Levy were part of a crowd of onlookers who cheered with relief on Tuesday as prosecutors arrested alleged criminal Robert E. Announced seven first-degree murder charges against Cremo III.
Lake County state attorney Eric Rinehart said the 21-year-old Krimo faces the prospect of life in prison with no prospect of parole, as well as “dozens” of more probable charges.
Authorities also released the identities of six of the seven victims: Katherine Goldstein, 64; Irina McCarthy, 35; Kevin McCarthy, 37; Jacqueline Sundeem, 63; and Stephen Strauss, 88, all from Highland Park; and Nicolas Toledo-Zaragoza, 78, of Mexico.
Christopher Cowelly, a spokesman for the Lake County Major Crime Task Force, said police first responded at Cremo’s home in April 2019, after learning he had attempted suicide a week earlier.
The next conversation took place in September of that year, when a family member revealed that Krimo had a collection of knives and was threatening to “kill everyone”. No charges or complaints were filed.
Cremo legally purchased five guns, including a rifle used in the assault and one found in the vehicle with him when he was arrested, as well as guns and other firearms confiscated at his father’s home.
The violence in Highland Park came six weeks after a deadly elementary school violence in Uvalde, Texas that killed 19 children and two teachers, shocking – but not surprising – a country now completely staggering. immersed in potential.
Coveli said the suspect planned the attack for several weeks and fled the scene wearing women’s clothing to hide his facial tattoo and mingling with the crowd.
He said a shooter armed with a high-powered rifle used a fire escape ladder to climb to the roof of a business along the parade route before firing more than 70 rounds at the crowd.
When it was over, the attacker reportedly dropped his rifle and mingled into the crowd, as if he were an “innocent spectator”.
Police have no idea whether it was religiously or racially motivated, with Kovelli calling the attack “completely random”.
“What should have been a celebration of freedom has ended in despair for our community,” said Rinehart, behind him a battery of officers, investigators and police.
“Everyone who died steps away from here lost their freedom – all that, every ounce of freedom they had. The freedom to love, the freedom to learn, and the freedom to live life to the fullest.
“Their independence matters, too.”
These days, in a country known for life, freedom, and the pursuit of happiness, that freedom can also include giving up for good.
“I don’t like the world that we live in at all,” said Sela.
“I have serious concerns about where we are, where we are going. And quite honestly, I have contemplated leaving this country several times recently.”
So, too, is Jim Perlman, a lifelong Highland Park resident, who said he’s not the only one considering his options.
“The way the pace is going, a lot of people are talking about it and people want to leave,” said Perlman, whose apartment is less than two blocks from where the shooting took place.
“They don’t feel safe. Kids don’t feel safe in schools… It’s like a snowball going down a hill and getting worse and worse.”
where will they go? Sela said he has family in Israel, a country that has a reputation for violence, “but it is more predictable,” she said.
“What it looks like, what it’s like to live in Israel.”
For Perlman, that’s thinking closer to home.
“Everyone talks about Canada,” he said. “We can be there.”
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