World

A 21-year-old man who allegedly opened fire on a July 4 parade in a Chicago suburb while disguised in women’s clothing was charged with seven counts of first-degree murder on Tuesday, prosecutors said.

Robert Crimo, 21, was arrested Monday, hours after the attack on an Independence Day crowd.

“There will be more charges,” Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart told reporters. “We anticipate dozens of more charges centered around each of the victims.”

Police spokesman Christopher Covelli said the death toll rose to seven on Tuesday after one of the victims died in hospital. More than 35 people were wounded.

Among the dead were Kevin McCarthy, 37, and his wife, Irina, 35 — the parents of a two-year-old boy who was found wandering alone after the shooting, according to CBS News.

Covelli said no motive had been established for the attack, which sent panicked parade-goers fleeing for their lives.

“We do believe Crimo pre-planned this attack for several weeks,” and that he acted alone, he said.

“We have no information to suggest at this point it was racially motivated, motivated by religion or any other protected status,” he added.

He said Crimo has a history of mental health issues and threatening behavior.

Police had been called to Crimo’s home twice in 2019: once to investigate a suicide attempt and the second time because a relative said he had threatened to “kill everyone” in the family, he said.

Police removed 16 knives, a dagger and a sword from the home but did not make any arrests, he said.

Covelli said Crimo used a fire escape to access the roof of a building overlooking the parade route and fired more than 70 rounds from a rifle “similar to an AR-15” — one of several guns he had purchased legally.

“Crimo was dressed in women’s clothing and investigators believe he did this to conceal his facial tattoos and his identity and help him during the escape with the other people who were fleeing the chaos,” he said.

– ‘Still reeling’ –

Covelli said Crimo went to his mother’s nearby home after the shooting and borrowed her car. He was captured about eight hours later after a brief chase.

He also said the authorities were investigating disturbing online posts and videos made by Crimo.

The shooting has left the upscale suburb in shock.

“We’re all still reeling,” Mayor Nancy Rotering told NBC’s Today show. “Everybody knows somebody who was affected by this directly.”

The mayor said she personally knew the suspected gunman when he was a young boy in the Cub Scouts.

“How did somebody become this angry, this hateful to then take it out on innocent people who literally were just having a family day out?” 

Crimo, whose father unsuccessfully ran for mayor and owns a store in Highland Park called Bob’s Pantry and Deli, was an amateur musician billing himself as “Awake the Rapper.”

The younger Crimo’s online postings include violent content that alluded to guns and shootings.

One YouTube video posted eight months ago featured cartoons of a gunman and people being shot.

“I need to just do it,” a voice-over says.

It adds: “It is my destiny. Everything has led up to this. Nothing can stop me, not even myself.”

Crimo, who has the word “Awake” tattooed over an eyebrow, is seen sporting an “FBI” hat in numerous photos and a Trump flag as a cape in one picture.

The shooting is the latest in a wave of gun violence plaguing the United States, where about 40,000 deaths a year are caused by firearms, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

– ‘Epidemic of gun violence’ –

The deeply divisive debate over gun control was reignited by two massacres in May that saw 10 Black people gunned down at a New York supermarket, and 19 children and two teachers slain at an elementary school in Texas.

Vice President Kamala Harris, who was in Chicago Tuesday for a summit of the nation’s largest teachers’ union, said the Texas shooting was a reminder “of the risks that our children and our educators face every day,” and renewed a call for Congress to ban assault weapons.

Speaking later at the scene of the Highland Park shooting, Harris said: “The whole nation should understand… that this could happen anywhere, in any peace-loving community.”

In another July 4 shooting, two police officers were wounded when they came under fire during a fireworks show in Philadelphia, officials said.

In Highland Park, Emily Prazak, who marched in the parade, described the mayhem.

“We heard the pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, and I thought it was fireworks,” Prazak said.

Cassie Goldstein, another survivor of the attack, told local media she had seen her mother die as they fled the shooting.

“I started running with her, we were next to each other, and he shot her in the chest, and she fell down and I knew she was dead,” the 22-year-old told NBC News.

“So I just told her that I loved her, but I couldn’t stop because he was still shooting everyone next to me.”

Francisco Toledo, whose 78-year-old father Mario was killed in the shooting, told AFP he felt the gunman had been “deceived… by an evil spirit.”

“I have been asked questions: ‘What would you do if you had him here in front of you?’ I wouldn’t ask him anything, I would tell him to repent,” he said. 

President Joe Biden vowed to keep fighting “the epidemic of gun violence.”

Last week, he signed the first significant federal bill on gun safety in decades, just days after the Supreme Court ruled that Americans have a fundamental right to carry a handgun in public.

Boris Johnson’s position as UK prime minister was on the brink on Wednesday, after two of his senior ministers quit in protest at his scandal-hit leadership, piling on pressure as he faced a grilling from angry MPs.

The 58-year-old leader’s grip on power became more precarious within 10 short minutes on Tuesday night, when Rishi Sunak resigned as finance minister and Sajid Javid quit as health secretary.

Both said they could no longer tolerate the culture of scandal that has stalked Johnson for months, including lockdown lawbreaking in Downing Street that enraged the public who followed the rules.

Sunak and Javid will now sit on the Conservative back benches at the weekly session of Prime Minister’s Questions at 1100 GMT, which promises to be even more combustible than usual.

Johnson then faces an hours-long grilling from the chairs of the House of Commons’ most powerful committees, who include some of his most virulent critics in the Tory ranks.

The exits of Sunak and Javid came just minutes after Johnson apologised for appointing a senior Conservative, who quit his post last week after he was accused of drunkenly groping two men.

Former education secretary Nadhim Zahawi was handed the finance brief. “You don’t go into this job to have an easy life,” Zahawi told Sky News on Wednesday. 

“Sometimes it’s easy to walk away but actually, it’s much tougher to deliver for the country.”

– Challenge –

Days of shifting explanations had followed the resignation of deputy chief whip Chris Pincher. Downing Street at first denied Johnson knew of prior allegations against Pincher when appointing him in February.

But by Tuesday, that defence had collapsed after a former top civil servant said Johnson, as foreign minister, was told in 2019 about another incident involving his ally.

Minister for children and families Will Quince quit on Wednesday, saying he was given the inaccurate information before having to defend the government in a round of media interviews on Monday.

Junior transport minister Laura Trott quit at the same time, saying the government was fuelling a lack of “trust” in the government. 

The Pincher affair was the “icing on the cake” for Sunak and Javid, Tory MP Andrew Bridgen, a strident Johnson critic, told Sky News.

“I and a lot of the party now are determined that he will be gone by the summer recess (starting on July 22): the sooner the better.”

The resignations dominated the British media, with even some of Johnson’s staunchest newspaper backers doubting whether he could survive the fall-out.

Other senior cabinet ministers, including Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, still back Johnson, but many were wondering how long that may last.  

Johnson only narrowly survived a no-confidence vote among Conservative MPs a month ago, which ordinarily would mean he could not be challenged again for another year.

But the influential “1922 Committee” of non-ministerial Tory MPs is reportedly seeking to change the rules.

– ‘Local difficulties’ –

Jacob Rees-Mogg, a doggedly loyal cabinet ally and Johnson’s “minister for Brexit opportunities” dismissed the resignations as “little local difficulties”.

“Losing chancellors is something that happens,” he said on Sky News, pointing to past Tory leaders — although Margaret Thatcher was ultimately felled by a cabinet revolt by top allies.

Sunak’s departure in particular, in the middle of policy differences over a cost-of-living crisis sweeping Britain, is dismal news for Johnson.

Johnson, who received a police fine for the so-called “Partygate” affair, faces a parliamentary probe into whether he lied to MPs about the revelations.

Pincher’s departure from the whips’ office — charged with enforcing party discipline and standards — marked yet another allegation of sexual misconduct by Tories in recent months, recalling the “sleaze” that dogged John Major’s government in the 1990s.

Conservative MP Neil Parish resigned in April after he was caught watching pornography on his mobile phone in the House of Commons.

That prompted a by-election in his previously safe seat, which the party went on to lose in a historic victory for the opposition Liberal Democrats.

Labour, the main opposition party, defeated the Conservatives in another by-election in northern England on the same day, prompted by the conviction of its Tory MP for sexual assault.

Picky penguins and ornery otters at a Japanese aquarium are facing the effects of inflation, refusing the new bargain bites their keepers are now offering after a jump in prices.

As part of a belt-tightening effort, the Hakone-en aquarium in central Japan’s Kanagawa region has scrapped some of its traditional and more expensive horse mackerel in favour of cheaper mackerel.

But the menu change has not been received with universal approval, with some penguins resolutely turning their beaks up when the mackerel is proffered.

“They take it into their mouths at first, but then they decide they don’t like it and drop it,” aquarium head Hiroki Shimamoto told AFP.

He speculates that the uncompromising penguins may have taken issue with the size of their new meals, which are bigger than their standard fare.    

“They sense something is off,” he said.  

The problem is even more acute among the aquarium’s otters, who have uniformly rejected the cheaper fish, Shimamoto added. 

The facility said it made the switch after horse mackerel prices rocketed up about 20-30 percent from last year, in part because of low catches.

The aquarium is still purchasing some horse mackerel for its feed, but has no plans to revert back entirely until prices fall, Shimamoto said.

“It all depends on when things get back to normal.”

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson faces two high-stakes encounters in parliament on Wednesday after his government was rocked by the shock departures of two senior ministers.

Rishi Sunak resigned as finance minister and Sajid Javid as health secretary on Tuesday night. Both said they could no longer tolerate the culture of scandal that has stalked Johnson for months.

They will now sit on the Conservative back benches at the weekly session of Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons at 1100 GMT — which promises to be even more combustible than usual.

Johnson then faces an hours-long grilling from the chairs of the Commons’ most powerful committees, who include some of his most virulent critics in the Tory ranks.

The exits of Sunak and Javid were announced minutes after the prime minister apologised for appointing a senior Conservative, who quit last week after he was accused of drunkenly groping two men.

Former education secretary Nadhim Zahawi has been elevated to the finance brief.

“You don’t go into this job to have an easy life,” Zahawi told Sky News on Wednesday. 

“Sometimes it’s easy to walk away but actually, it’s much tougher to deliver for the country,” he added.

Days of shifting explanations had followed the resignation of deputy chief whip Chris Pincher. Downing Street at first denied Johnson knew of prior allegations against Pincher when appointing him in February.

But by Tuesday, that defence had collapsed after a former top civil servant said Johnson, as foreign minister, was told in 2019 about another incident involving his ally.

The Pincher affair was the “icing on the cake” for Sunak and Javid, Tory MP Andrew Bridgen, a Johnson critic, told Sky News.

“I and a lot of the party now are determined that he will be gone by the summer recess (starting on July 22): the sooner the better.”

The resignations dominated British newspaper front pages. The Times ran with headline “Johnson on the brink,” while the conservative Daily Mail tabloid was more colourful: “Can even Boris the Greased Piglet wriggle out of this?”

Former loyalist and Brexit pointman David Frost, influential among Tory grassroot members, also wrote in the Daily Telegraph on Wednesday “it is time to go”.

“The repetition of the same mistakes, and the refusal to acknowledge the need for change, means that this Prime Minister is never going to get better.” 

The resignations came after Johnson only narrowly survived a no-confidence vote among Conservative MPs a month ago.

Other cabinet members, including Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and Defence Secretary Ben Wallace — two likely contenders for the leadership — continue to back Johnson, aides said.

– Humility? –

Jacob Rees-Mogg, a doggedly loyal cabinet ally, dismissed the resignations as “little local difficulties”.

“Losing chancellors is something that happens,” he said on Sky News, pointing to past Tory leaders — although Margaret Thatcher was ultimately felled by a cabinet revolt by top allies.

Sunak’s departure in particular, in the middle of policy differences over a cost-of-living crisis sweeping Britain, is dismal news for Johnson.

The chancellor of the exchequer said “the public rightly expect government to be conducted properly, competently and seriously”.

“I believe these standards are worth fighting for and that is why I am resigning,” Sunak wrote to Johnson.

Javid preceded Sunak at the Treasury before quitting over a prior bust-up with Johnson.

He wrote that the prime minister’s survival in last month’s no-confidence vote gave him the opportunity to show “humility, grip and new direction”.

“I regret to say, however, that it is clear to me that this situation will not change under your leadership — and you have therefore lost my confidence too.”

– ‘Collapsing’ –

Johnson has been embroiled in various scandals, above all the so-called “Partygate” affair, which saw him receive a police fine for breaking his own coronavirus lockdown restrictions in Downing Street.

The 58-year-old premier still faces a parliamentary probe into whether he lied to MPs over the lockdown-breaching parties in Downing Street.

Pincher’s departure from the whips’ office — charged with enforcing party discipline and standards — marked yet another allegation of sexual misconduct by Tories in recent months.

Conservative MP Neil Parish resigned in April after he was caught watching pornography on his mobile phone in the House of Commons.

That prompted a by-election in his previously safe seat, which the party went on to lose in a historic victory for the opposition Liberal Democrats.

Labour, the main opposition party, defeated the Conservatives in another by-election in northern England on the same day, prompted by the conviction of its Tory MP for sexual assault.

After two nights in police custody, Indian teenager Somaiya Fatima was released in time to watch live footage of an excavator claw smashing into the walls of her childhood home.

The residence is among scores of dwellings and businesses flattened by wrecking crews this year, in a campaign authorities have promoted by turns as a battle against illegal construction and a firm response to criminal activity. 

But rights groups have condemned “bulldozer justice” as an unlawful exercise in collective punishment by India’s Hindu nationalist government, and many of the campaign’s victims have one thing in common. 

“We are Muslims and that’s why we are being targeted,” Fatima told AFP.

The 19-year-old was arrested along with her family after her father was accused of masterminding a large public protest in the northern city of Allahabad last month.

It was one of several rallies across India last month condemning a ruling party spokeswoman whose provocative comments about the Prophet Mohammed during a televised debate sparked anger across the Muslim world.

The day Fatima was released, she was sitting in a relative’s living room when she came across footage of her home’s destruction on her phone. 

She said the demolition was a lesson for Muslims tempted to “speak up” against the government.

“They’ve instilled fear in an entire community,” she said. “Everyone now looks at their home and thinks that if it happened to us, it can happen to them also.”

– ‘No empathy’ –

Fatima’s home state of Uttar Pradesh is governed by Yogi Adityanath, a saffron-robed Hindu monk seen as a potential successor to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 

In office he has championed the bulldozer as a symbol of his commitment to law and order and as a potential tool to use against “trouble-makers”.

Adityanath’s acolytes celebrated his successful campaign for re-election as chief minister earlier this year by riding on top of excavators, while bulldozer tattoos became a minor craze among supporters of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

Since then “bulldozer politics” have spread elsewhere in the country and demolition campaigns have begun quickly following on the heels of outbreaks of religious unrest. 

After a violent confrontation in April between Hindus trailing a religious procession and Muslims holding Ramadan prayers, authorities in Delhi knocked down nearly two dozen Muslim shopfronts and the facade of a mosque, defying a court order to stop.

Officials say the spate of demolitions are lawful as they only target buildings constructed without legal approval.

But victims of the campaign deny that their dwellings are illegal, and say they are not given the legally required notice period to dispute demolition orders. 

Fatima’s house was demolished “in the presence of hundreds of police and hundreds of cameras, with no empathy,” KK Rai, a lawyer for Fatima’s father, told AFP. 

“There is no comparison for this ruthlessness.”

Critics of the government say the campaign is the latest manifestation of the BJP’s discriminatory policies towards India’s 200 million-strong Muslim minority community.

“They have an ideological commitment that in India they have to make Muslims a second-class citizen, socially humiliate them and destroy their property,” Rai said. 

Amnesty International said last month that the demolitions were part of a selective and “vicious” crackdown on Indian Muslims who dared to speak up against the discrimination they faced.

– ‘Sleepless nights’ –

Many Muslims living in Uttar Pradesh now fear their own homes are being earmarked for destruction after their family members participated in last month’s protests. 

“Now we have sleepless nights and restless days,” said Mohd Javed, a resident of Saharanpur, who received an order to vacate his house soon after his brother was arrested for joining a demonstration in that city.

One week after Fatima’s arrest, a bulldozer remained parked outside the police station near where her home once stood.

The pile of bricks and concrete in its stead has heightened her own sense of belonging to a pariah community. 

She recalled watching her home being torn down on a news channel’s YouTube livestream, as her phone screen filled up with a flood of comments from the public praising the demolition. 

“I was born there and spent my entire life there,” Fatima said. “But it was evident that people were happy seeing someone’s house being destroyed.”

A 21-year-old man who allegedly opened fire on a July 4 parade in a wealthy Chicago suburb while disguised in women’s clothing was charged with seven counts of first-degree murder on Tuesday, prosecutors said.

Robert Crimo, 21, was arrested on Monday, several hours after the attack on a festive Independence Day crowd.

“There will be more charges,” Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart told reporters. “We anticipate dozens of more charges centered around each of the victims.”

Police spokesman Christopher Covelli said the death toll rose to seven on Tuesday after one of the wounded victims died in hospital. More than 35 people were injured.

Among the dead were Kevin McCarthy, 37, and his wife, Irina, 35 — the parents of a two-year-old boy who was found wandering alone after the shooting, according to CBS News.

Covelli said no motive had been established for the attack, which sent panicked parade-goers fleeing for their lives.

“We do believe Crimo pre-planned this attack for several weeks,” and that he acted alone, he said.

“We have no information to suggest at this point it was racially motivated, motivated by religion or any other protected status,” he added.

He said Crimo has a history of mental health issues and threatening behavior.

Police had been called twice to Crimo’s home in 2019, once to investigate a suicide attempt and the second time because a relative said he had threatened to “kill everyone” in the family, he said.

Police removed 16 knives, a dagger and a sword from the home but did not make any arrests, he said.

Covelli said Crimo used a fire escape to access the roof of a building overlooking the parade route and fired more than 70 rounds from a rifle “similar to an AR-15,” one of several guns he had purchased legally.

“Crimo was dressed in women’s clothing and investigators believe he did this to conceal his facial tattoos and his identity and help him during the escape with the other people who were fleeing the chaos,” he said.

– ‘Still reeling’ –

Covelli said Crimo went to his mother’s nearby home after the shooting and borrowed her car. He was captured about eight hours later after a brief chase.

He also said the authorities were investigating disturbing online posts and videos made by Crimo.

The shooting has left the upscale suburb in shock.

“We’re all still reeling,” Mayor Nancy Rotering told NBC’s Today show. “Everybody knows somebody who was affected by this directly.”

The mayor said she personally knew the suspected gunman when he was a young boy in the Cub Scouts.

“How did somebody become this angry, this hateful to then take it out on innocent people who literally were just having a family day out?” Rotering asked.

Crimo, whose father unsuccessfully ran for mayor and owns a store in Highland Park called Bob’s Pantry and Deli, was an amateur musician billing himself as “Awake the Rapper.”

The younger Crimo’s online postings include violent content that alluded to guns and shootings.

One YouTube video posted eight months ago featured cartoons of a gunman and people being shot.

“I need to just do it,” a voice-over says.

It adds: “It is my destiny. Everything has led up to this. Nothing can stop me, not even myself.”

Crimo, who has the word “Awake” tattooed over an eyebrow, is seen sporting an “FBI” hat in numerous photos and a Trump flag as a cape in one picture.

The shooting is the latest in a wave of gun violence plaguing the United States, where approximately 40,000 deaths a year are caused by firearms, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

– ‘Epidemic of gun violence’ –

The deeply divisive debate over gun control was reignited by two massacres in May that saw 10 Black people gunned down at an upstate New York supermarket, and 19 children and two teachers slain at an elementary school in Texas.

Vice President Kamala Harris, who was in Chicago Tuesday for a summit of the nation’s largest teachers’ union, said the Texas shooting was a reminder “of the risks that our children and our educators face every day,” and renewed a call for Congress to ban assault weapons.

Speaking later at the scene of the Highland Park shooting, Harris said: “The whole nation should understand… that this could happen anywhere, in any peace-loving community.”

The Highland Park shooting cast a pall over Independence Day, when towns and cities across the United States hold parades and people attend barbecues, sporting events and fireworks displays.

In another July 4 shooting, two police officers were wounded when they came under fire during a fireworks show in Philadelphia, officials said.

In Highland Park, Emily Prazak, who marched in the parade, described the mayhem.

“We heard the pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, and I thought it was fireworks,” Prazak said.

Cassie Goldstein, another survivor of the attack, told local media she had seen her mother die as they fled the shooting.

“I started running with her, we were next to each other, and he shot her in the chest, and she fell down and I knew she was dead,” the 22-year-old told NBC News.

“So I just told her that I loved her, but I couldn’t stop because he was still shooting everyone next to me.”

President Joe Biden vowed to keep fighting “the epidemic of gun violence.”

Last week, he signed the first significant federal bill on gun safety in decades, just days after the Supreme Court ruled that Americans have a fundamental right to carry a handgun in public.