HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. — A business district that had been in lockdown since a mass shooting during a July 4 parade that left seven dead reopened Sunday morning in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park.
The 2 by 3 block area consists largely of small shops and restaurants. It had been jammed with crime scene tape, barricades and uniformed officers since Monday as the FBI and other law enforcement agencies processed the evidence.
The street was generally quiet shortly after police removed the barricades, except for media vehicles, a few other vehicles and passers-by.
“We went out at 5:30 this morning. It was open,” said Dale Miller, 70, who was walking his dog, Milo, near the scene of the shooting. “It’s our first walk of the day.”
He said he did not attend the parade this year but lived about 100 yards (91 yards) away and heard the gunshots, although he did not realize what they were until his brother calls him from Florida in a panic.
“We just have fireworks here, that’s all,” Miller told his brother. “So the fireworks weren’t fireworks.”
He received many more calls after news of the shooting spread, including one from his daughter, a teacher in Florida.
“She called me in tears and said, ‘I’ve lost my refuge,'” Miller recounted. “‘Highland Park was always the only place I could go where I was safe and that was taken away from me.'”
Not all businesses reopened on Sunday. Janice Bruksch, who owns an ice cream shop along the stretch of road where the shooting happened, told WBBM-TV she plans to reopen Sweet Home Gelato on Tuesday and offer free scoops to first responders and to children.
“Just to bring some kind of happiness in any way – so a little kid comes here and gets a free ice cream, smiles and walks out, and doesn’t think about that day,” Bruksch said. “It’s awesome.”
The reopening of the business district comes two days after the start of funerals for the seven people killed in the shooting. Authorities said the attacker fired more than 80 rounds into the parade crowd from a semi-automatic rifle.
Robert E. Crimo III, 21, has been charged with seven counts of first degree murder. Prosecutors expect to bring other charges representing the more than 30 people injured in the attack.
Investigators say Crimo, of neighboring Highwood, legally purchased five guns and planned the attack for weeks before climbing onto the roof of a business along the parade route and opening fire.
Authorities say Crimo fled the parade blending in with the fleeing crowd, then drove to the Madison, Wisconsin area where he contemplated a second attack. He returned to the Highland Park area and his car was spotted by police.
Questions remain about whether Crimo should have been able to legally buy guns in Illinois. Illinois state police officials defended the approval of his firearms license in December 2019, months after police received reports he had made suicidal and violent threats .
Miller expressed hope that Highland Park will recover.
“It’s a very united city and it’s a city that’s really hurting right now, but not even remotely destroyed,” he said.
