Category Archives: Illinois

Highland Park mass shooting suspect charged with 117 felony crimes

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Robert Crimo, 21, accused of killing seven and wounding dozens in Fourth of July attack in Chicago suburb, indicted by grand jury

The man accused of opening fire on an Independence Day parade in suburban Chicago, killing seven, has been indicted by a grand jury on 117 felony charges.

The indictment included 21 first-degree murder counts, 48 counts of attempted murder and 48 counts of aggravated battery, representing the seven people killed and dozens wounded in the attack on the Fourth of July event in Highland Park, Illinois.

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Highland Park suspect’s father to be investigated for signing gun application

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Robert Crimo Jr denies any responsibility for the attack, saying ‘I had no – not an inkling, warning – that this was going to happen’

The father of the Highland Park gunman will be criminally investigated in connection with the Independence Day attack for signing an affidavit supporting his son’s application for a gun license, police said.

Robert Crimo Jr, the father of Robert Crimo III – who is suspected of killing seven people at a Fourth of July parade in a suburb of Chicago – sponsored his son’s firearm owner application in 2019.

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Highland Park shooting: police say suspect used women’s clothing disguise

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YouTube has taken down page belonging to man in custody, while Instagram and Twitter have terminated his accounts

Seeking clues for a possible motivation, police were combing through the social media profile and published songs of the alleged attacker in the shooting that left at least six dead and 30 wounded in a Chicago suburb on the Fourth of July.

Robert E Crimo III, 22, was detained hours after the shooting Monday as a person of interest in the case, said the police chief of Highland Park, Illinois. Investigators have stopped short of calling Crimo a suspect, but on Tuesday they described finding evidence that he disguised himself in “women’s clothing” before opening fire on strangers with a high-powered rifle styled after an AR-15.

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Details emerge about victims of Highland Park Fourth of July shooting

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Shooting injured dozens and killed six, including 76-year-old grandfather Nicolas Toledo and teacher Jacki Sundheim

The first details have begun to emerge of the victims of the mass shooting in Highland Park, Illinois, after a lone gunman fired into a crowd of people watching the Chicago suburb’s Fourth of July parade.

The shooting killed six and injured dozens, triggering panic and shock across the US as yet another attack disrupted what is usually a day of patriotic celebration.

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Police arrest person of interest in mass killing that targeted Chicago-area Fourth of July parade – latest updates

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At least six killed and 30 injured after shooting in Highland Park just after 10am local time

In a new statement, Biden condemned the shooting in Highland Park as a “senseless act of violence” and vowed to deliver the “full support of the federal government to assist.” As the search continues for the gunman, Biden said he had “surged” the federal law enforcement response and was monitoring the situation closely.

Jill and I are shocked by the senseless gun violence that has yet again brought grief to an American community on this Independence Day. As always, we are grateful for the first responders and law enforcement on the scene. I have spoken to Governor Pritzker and Mayor Rotering, and have offered the full support of the Federal government to their communities. I also surged federal law enforcement to assist in the urgent search for the shooter, who remains at large at this time.

Members of the community should follow guidance from leadership on the ground, and I will monitor closely as we learn more about those whose lives have been lost and pray for those who are in the hospital with grievous injuries.

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Person of interest in custody after shooting at Chicago-area Fourth of July parade

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At least six killed and 30 injured in Highland park attack amid string of recent mass shootings

A person of interest in the mass killing that targeted a Fourth of July parade in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park has been taken into custody, the Highland Park police chief said on Monday evening.

More than 100 law enforcement officers had scoured the suburb and surrounding areas after at least six people were killed and 30 injured when a lone gunman rained down bullets on the town’s independence celebrations on Monday morning.

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‘This isn’t freedom’: Fourth of July shooting rocks Chicago and shocks US

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Leaders and activists demand change after shooter targets Highland Park parade celebrating Independence Day

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.

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Laquan McDonald shooting: federal prosecutors will not charge officer

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Civil rights leaders had called for new charges after Jason Van Dyke, convicted of murder in state court, was released in February

Federal authorities on Monday said they would not criminally charge Jason Van Dyke, the former Chicago police officer convicted of murder in the 2014 shooting death of Laquan McDonald.

The US attorney’s office in Chicago said in a news release that the decision had been made after consulting with the McDonald family and that the “family was in agreement not to pursue a second prosecution”.

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Saved: the Wordle clue that helped rescue 80-year-old woman from hostage ordeal

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Daughters of Denyse Holt from Illinois grew concerned after she failed to send them a text containing her daily Wordle score

The wildly popular online puzzle Wordle has been credited with keeping people across the world sane amid the ravages of the pandemic. But now it has been hailed as a potential life saver, by providing the clue that helped rescue an 80-year-old woman from a 20-hour home invasion hostage ordeal.

Denyse Holt, a retired teacher, found herself locked in her basement in her home in Illinois after being woken up by a naked, knife-wielding intruder in the middle of the night.

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US tornadoes: up to 100 people feared dead after historic storms – video report

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What could prove to be the longest tornado in US history has left a trail of destruction from Arkansas to Kentucky, part of a vast storm front that is feared to have killed at least 100 people in southern and central states of the US.

A candle factory in Mayfield, Kentucky, and an Amazon warehouse in Edwardsville, Illinois, were just two of the buildings destroyed in Friday night’s storm, which was all the more unusual because it came in December, when colder weather normally limits tornadoes


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Kentucky tornadoes: up to 100 feared dead in historic US storms

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Dozens remain unaccounted for after tornado left a trail of destruction from Arkansas to Kentucky

Dozens remained unaccounted for on Sunday as rescuers worked overnight searching for survivors after what could be the longest tornado in US history left a trail of destruction from Arkansas to Kentucky, part of a vast storm front that it is feared may have killed at least 100 people.

Kentucky governor Andy Beshear said the path of devastation was about 227 miles (365km) long, which, if confirmed, would surpass the 218-mile Tri-State tornado in 1925, which killed at least 695 people and destroyed 15,000 homes across Missouri, Illinois and Indiana.

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At least 70 dead as tornadoes rip across central and southern US states

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Kentucky was hardest hit as four tornadoes, including a massive storm, devastated a town and collapsed a factory building

Seven central and southern US states were picking up the pieces Saturday after a series of powerful tornadoes intensified by severe storms ripped across the region, leaving an estimated 70 to 100 people dead.

Kentucky was hardest hit as four tornadoes, including a massive storm, devastated Mayfield, a small town 134 miles (215 km) north-west of Nashville, Tennessee. A candle factory partially collapsed when the tornado struck on Friday evening.

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Drone footage shows collapsed Illinois warehouse after tornadoes sweep US – video

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An Amazon warehouse near Edwardsville, Illinois, about 25 miles (40km) north-east of St Louis, was destroyed in extreme weather conditions on Friday night. It wasn’t immediately clear how many people were hurt by the roof collapse, but emergency services called it a 'mass casualty incident' on Facebook. One official told KTVI-TV that as many as 100 people may have been in the building, working the night shift, at the time of the collapse.

Up to 100 people are feared to have been killed after a devastating outbreak of tornadoes ripped through Kentucky and other US states on Friday night and early Saturday morning

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Arkansas tornado: two dead after nursing home ‘pretty much destroyed’

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Five seriously injured, says county judge in Arkansas, as rescue workers in Illinois attend site of roof collapse at Amazon warehouse

At least two people were killed when a tornado ripped through an Arkansas nursing home, while a roof collapsed at an Amazon warehouse in Illinois, reportedly causing many injuries.

Craighead county judge Marvin Day said the tornado struck the Monette Manor nursing home in north-east Arkansas at about 8.15pm, trapping 20 people inside as the building collapsed. About 90 minutes later the building had been cleared and everyone initially believed to have been inside had been accounted for, but Day said crews still must search the debris for possible additional victims.

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Outrage as McDonald’s CEO appears to blame parents of slain Chicago children

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Chris Kempczinski said his comments about fatally shot children in text to Chicago mayor lacked ‘empathy and compassion’

McDonald’s chief executive, Chris Kempczinski, has sparked outrage after the emergence of a text exchange with the Chicago mayor, Lori Lightfoot, in which he appears to blame two Chicago parents whose children were fatally shot.

In the newly publicized texts between Kempczinski and Lightfoot from April, Kempczinski blamed the parents of 13-year-old Adam Toledo and seven-year-old Jaslyn Adams for their deaths.

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Where the buffalo roam: world’s longest wildlife bridge could cross the Mississippi

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Conservationist aims to replace old bridge with bison preserve, benefiting environment and spotlighting Indigenous history

Between Iowa and Illinois, spanning the only stretch of the Mississippi River that flows from east to west, sits an exhausted 55-year-old cement bridge. Each day 42,000 cars drive across the ageing structure, which is slated to be torn down and replaced.

But when Chad Pregracke looks at the bridge, he has a different vision entirely – not an old overpass to be demolished, but a home for the buffalo to roam.

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Three killed and four wounded in apparently random Chicago shootings

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  • Gunman killed by police named as Jason Nightengale, 32
  • Three women and girl seriously wounded as police seek motive

A man who police say killed three people and wounded four in a series of shootings in and around Chicago posted nonsensical and expletive-laced videos in the days and hours leading up to the attacks.

Investigators were trying to determine a motive for the Saturday afternoon attacks in which police say 32-year-old Jason Nightengale apparently chose victims at random.

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How watching my sons during the pandemic taught me resilience

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A photographer tells us what she learned from her two young sons while photographing them during the pandemic

December marks the 10th month of the Covid-19 pandemic. For a child this can feel like their entire life with no end in sight. For my two sons, nine-year-old Joey and eight-year-old Jackson, the initial transformation from normal to “new normal” did not exactly start out smoothly but turned out to be an unexpected gift.

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Three shot dead after gunman opens fire at bowling alley in Rockford, Illinois

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A suspect is in custody after what authorities believe was a random attack at Don Carter Lanes, 80 miles north-west of Chicago

A gunman has opened fire inside a bowling alley in Illinois, killing three people and injuring three others in what authorities believe was a random attack.

A 37-year-old male was taken into custody after the shooting on Saturday night at Don Carter Lanes in Rockford, about 80 miles (128 kilometres) north-west of Chicago, police said in a social media post.

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Illinois officer fired after shooting Black couple inside their vehicle

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Officer who fatally shot Marcellis Stinnette and wounded Tafara Williams committed ‘multiple policy’ violations, said police chief

Attorneys representing a Black woman who was shot and wounded inside a vehicle by a suburban Chicago police officer who also fatally shot her 19-year-old boyfriend called the officer’s firing “a first step in police accountability”, but said they were pressing ahead with their own investigation of the shooting.

The Waukegan police chief, Wayne Walles, announced late on Friday the firing of the officer who killed Marcellis Stinnette, a Black man, and wounded Tafara Williams, 20. Walles said in a brief statement the male officer committed “multiple policy and procedure violations”.

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