CHICAGO (CBS) — Witnesses describe “unbelievable” mass shooting at Highland Park 4th of July Parade where six six people are confirmed dead and several dozen injured.
Illinois State Senator Julie Morrison (29th) represents the area and was at the event. She said it’s one that she attends every year with her family. Morrison said she was with her family, ready to ride in the parade in a convertible, when the shooting happened.
“My children, my grown children and my grandchildren and my husband and other relatives were all with me and other volunteers. We were just entering the ramp if he was for the parade, we heard I heard a pop,” Morrison said, who admitted that, at first, she thought it was fireworks.
“It never occurred to me that in downtown Highland Park on the Fourth of July, there was the gunshots. But all of a sudden a couple of women started running back towards and then it was like almost a wave of people and they were crying and screaming and they said there’s an active shooter and people have been shot.”
Morrison said the shocking scene left her and others frozen with disbelief at first.
The state senator said that moments before the shooting, people at the parade were enjoying the event, which had just gotten started right before the shooting.
“We had children with bags of candy, getting ready to distribute them at the curb. And suddenly this rush of people ran back at us. That was like something you’d see in a movie,” Morrison said, who added that now her city is part of a long list of communities affected by gun violence.
“This is Highland Park. This is a district, a town I represent. People I love live there. It’s a the community I shop in and eat in. And to think that this community, now, is going to go the map like Uvalde and so many other communities is not acceptable and we had better step up and take some action.
