MINI TRUE CRIME ROUNDUP: Looking back at the July 4 shooting in Highland Park

**Lauren Barry** (0:05)
This is a True Crime Roundup from The On Deadline Podcast. We explore crime stories reported on by Audacy's radio newsrooms from coast to coast. I'm your host, Lauren Barry. On this Independence Day weekend, we're taking a look back at the tragic July 4th mass shooting that claimed seven lives and injured nearly 50 others at a suburban Chicago parade in 2022 A young boy who was injured in that mass shooting remains partially paralyzed. We'll also be thinking about how that mass shooting and the numerous violent events in the US that have made headlines over the past decades have changed the way that we celebrate. As our nation marks our 250th anniversary, are we finding it harder to trust each other, to relax and to have a good time with our neighbors?
On July 4th, 2022, Highland Park, Illinois, held its annual Independence Day Parade.
Families filled the downtown area of this Chicago suburb, basking in summer sun and holiday cheer. It was around 10, 15 in the morning when gunshots tore through the peaceful scene. As the shooter opened fire, seven people sustained fatal injuries.
Forty-eight others were also injured, but they survived. An eight-year-old boy who was injured in the spine survived. But even today, he remains paralyzed. Another boy who was just two at the time of the shooting, lost both of his parents in the tragedy. Here's Audacy Station, WBBM Newsradio's reporting on the tragedy from the day after the shooting, July 5th, 2022

**SPEAKER_3** (1:56)
Highland Park facing a new reality this morning. Following the deadly shooting massacre at its 4th of July parade, WBBM's Mike Krauser joins us live now from Highland Park with an update.

**Mike Krauser** (2:08)
Well, Cisco, we are at the police station here in Highland Park. And new this morning is from from Mayor Nancy Rotering, who says the gun used in the shooting, a high-powered rifle, was legally obtained. We don't know if they traced the weapon, and that is how they identified 21-year-old Robert Cremo as the suspect in this case. But the gun was left behind, and authorities could quickly check that if, in fact, that was registered in his name. The mayor also said on The Today Show, his online postings reflected a plan and a desire to commit carnage for a long time in advance. Dave Burner will have more on the suspect as we go through the morning, but it remains, the numbers of the victims remain the same. Six dead, about 30 injured. Most of the injured who were wounded were treated and released at area hospitals.
And now we are awaiting charges. Live in Highland Park, Mike Krauser, 105.9 WBBM.

**SPEAKER_5** (3:15)
Thank you, Mike. And hospitals went into emergency response mode to handle the influx of patients following that shooting. Brigham Temple is a doctor with the North Shore University Health System in Highland Park. He talks about the victims who were treated there.

**SPEAKER_3** (3:28)
Some of them were minor, some of them were much more severe, and some of those patients were in critical condition when they did arrive here to the hospital.

**SPEAKER_6** (3:36)
Any commonality between the gunshot injuries?

**SPEAKER_7** (3:39)
All different parts of the body?

**SPEAKER_3** (3:40)
They were all different parts of the body, extremities as well as other more central parts of the body as well. WBBM's Dave Berner with more now about one of the shooting victims, a well-liked staff member at North Shore Congregation Israel.

**Dave Berner** (3:54)
Jackie Sennheim is described as warm and kind. She was not only a staff member at the Glencoe Congregation, but taught preschool at the Gates of Learning for many years. Jackie is said to have been a life-long congregant. And the synagogue says in a statement that there are no words to express the sorrow and grief. She is survived by her husband Bruce and her daughter Leah.
Dave Berner, 105.9, WBBM.

**SPEAKER_5** (4:18)
Spectators at the Highland Park 4th of July parade describe a terrifying and panicked scene when a gunman started shooting. WBBM's Nancy Hardy has reaction.

**Nancy Hardy** (4:27)
Bursts of gunfire sent Amirani Garcia and her daughter running. They had been watching the parade near Central and 1st Street. She says she wasn't sure which way to go since she didn't know where the shooter was.

**SPEAKER_10** (4:37)
I just kept running with my daughter. My daughter was just crying.

**SPEAKER_11** (4:39)
She just, mommy, I lost my shoe.

**SPEAKER_5** (4:41)
I lost my shoe.

**Mike Krauser** (4:41)
And I'm like, baby, don't worry about your shoe right now.

**SPEAKER_11** (4:44)
You're going to be fine.

**SPEAKER_5** (4:45)
I'm going to get you to a safe place.

**Nancy Hardy** (4:46)
Alexander Sandoval says he tried to find a place to keep his five-year-old son safe.