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What We Know About the Shooting in Highland Park

Prosecutors lodged first-degree murder charges on Tuesday against a suspect who was taken into custody Monday evening.

Strollers and bicycles left behind by families fleeing the July 4 mass shooting in Highland Park, Ill., remained scattered along sidewalks on Tuesday.
Credit...Mary Mathis for The New York Times

A gunman shooting from a rooftop killed seven people and wounded dozens more during a Fourth of July celebration in Highland Park, Ill., on Monday morning. A 21-year-old man who was taken into custody Monday evening after an extensive manhunt was charged on Tuesday with seven counts of first-degree murder.

Here’s what we know so far.

Robert E. Crimo III, 21, a man the authorities had initially said was a person of interest, was charged in the case on Tuesday. He was arrested on Monday night by police in a nearby suburb.

The Lake County state’s attorney, Eric F. Rinehart, said conviction on the first-degree murder counts would lead to a mandatory prison sentence of life without possibility of parole.

Mr. Rinehart said on Tuesday that many more state charges were likely to be brought in connection with other people who were harmed in the attack.

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The Lake County coroner, Jennifer Banek, released names on Tuesday of six of the seven people who died:

  • Katherine Goldstein, 64 of Highland Park.

  • Irina McCarthy, 35, of Highland Park.

  • Kevin McCarthy, 37, of Highland Park.

  • Jacquelyn Sundheim, 63, of Highland Park.

  • Stephen Straus, 88, of Highland Park.

  • Nicolas Toledo-Zaragoza, 78, of Morelos, Mexico.

The coroner said the seventh victim died at a hospital. More than 30 people were injured, ranging in age from 8 to 85.

Deputy Chief Christopher Covelli of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office said the high-powered rifle used in the shooting appeared to have been purchased legally by Mr. Crimo in the Chicago area, and that Mr. Crimo had legally purchased a total of five guns, including the rifle. Chief Covelli said the suspect bought his firearms before he turned 21.

Chief Covelli said Mr. Crimo planned the shooting for several weeks, but the authorities had not yet established a motive. “We have no information to suggest at this point it was racially motivated, motivated by religion, or any other protected status,” the chief said, adding that there was no indication that anyone else was involved.

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CreditCredit...Reuters

The authorities said the gunman wore women’s clothing to disguise his identity. He climbed up a fire escape ladder to gain access to the roof where he staged his attack, and then after the shooting, he left the scene on foot, blending in with fleeing paradegoers.

The police said Mr. Crimo walked to his mother’s home in Highland Park and borrowed her car. He then drove to the Madison area in Wisconsin before returning to Illinois, Chief Covelli said.

The mass shooting in Highland Park was the fourth in Illinois since Friday in which at least four people were struck, according to the Gun Violence Archive. The state has among the strictest gun-safety laws in the nation — including universal background checks, red flag warnings and safe storage requirements — but it is surrounded by states like Indiana that have far fewer restrictions to gun purchase and ownership.

Authorities in at least a dozen other cities reported shootings over the weekend, most of them on Monday.