‘This isn’t freedom’: Fourth of July shooting
rocks Chicago and shocks US
Leaders and
activists demand change after shooter targets Highland Park parade celebrating
Independence Day
Erum Salam
and Coral Murphy Marcos
Mon 4 Jul
2022 20.32 BST
The
shooting at a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park that left at least six
dead and 24 wounded has rocked the small, well-off community in suburban
Chicago, and shocked the US as a whole.
It is the
latest in a slew of mass killings that have recently included a shooting at a
school in Texas and the racist massacre of Black shoppers at a supermarket in
Buffalo, New York.
But this
latest mass murder has struck a particularly symbolic note as the shooter
targeted a flag-waving parade celebrating the country’s national day and – once
again – forced Americans to wrestle with how and why their nation is so often
struck by such bloody attacks.
Highland
Park’s mayor, Nancy Rotering, said: “This morning at 10.14, our community was
terrorized by an act of violence that has shaken us to our core. Our hearts go
out to the victims at this devastating time. On a day that we came together to
celebrate community and freedom, we are instead mourning the tragic loss of
life and struggling with the terror that was brought upon us.”
Video
capturing the parade showed members of a marching band fleeing as gunshots were
heard nearby. The suspect, described as a white male with dark hair in his late
teens or 20s, still has not been found.
The
Highland Park police commander, Chris O’Neill, called the shooting a “horrific,
senseless, random act of violence”.
Giffords
Courage, the gun control advocacy organization led by the former congresswoman
Gabby Giffords, who was shot at a public event in Tuscon, Arizona, in 2011,
responded to the shooting in Illinois: “A mass shooting caused people to run
for their lives at a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, IL. Multiple
people are reported dead or injured. This is not normal. We should be able to
live free of the fear of being shot.”
Shannon
Watts, founder of gun reform group Mom’s Demand, said: “Media reporting the
gunman – a white teen or young man – had a rifle and was in a ‘sniper position’
on a rooftop as he picked off people below at the Highland Park parade. This
isn’t freedom; it’s terrorism.”
The US
singer and 80s pop-rock icon Richard Marx, who is from Highland Park, tweeted:
“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.”
Local
politicians also weighed in and vowed to take action to end gun violence in the
US – though such sentiments are often expressed in the wake of these tragedies
and there is rarely any meaningful progress towards gun reform.
The
Illinois governor, JB Pritzker, said: “Grief will not bring the victims back
and prayers alone will not put a stop to the terror of rampant gun violence in
our country … we must and we will end this plague of gun violence.”
Shortly
before the tragedy, the National Rifle Association gun lobby group shared a
message on Twitter in honor of Independence Day: “We are a country because of
brave souls with guns who valued and fought for liberty and freedom.”
A bald
eagle was pictured in the video associated with the tweet, along with a
voiceover: “The only reason you’re celebrating Independence Day is because
citizens were armed. Happy Fourth of July from the National Rifle Association
of America.”
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