By Blake Haas
HIGHLAND PARK, IL. – A day after a shooting left six dead and 30 injured in Highland Park at a 4th of July parade, residents are looking for answers.
One of those residents, Terry Grossberg, was approximately 100 feet away from the shooter when the 21-year-old gunned down parade attendees.
“I heard popping and looked directly in front of me and saw people scattering, tripping, and falling, and it did sound like fireworks were going off on the ground at that spot,” he told WJBC’s, Scott Miller. “When the second set of very rhythmic pounding shots came, I knew it was not fireworks; I jumped out of the car and ran east away from the firing.”
Grossberg, President of the Park District of Highland Park, said he knows the shooter and his father, who ran for mayor a couple of years ago.
“People say they didn’t see it coming, but when you hear about his social media post and other things like that, there was obviously something disturbing about him or very unsettling about him.”
On Tuesday, investigators said the shooter fired around 70 rounds and dressed as a woman to blend in with the crowd.
“We have to make it very difficult for people, especially young people, to get their hands on automatic weapons,” added Grossberg. “They just don’t need it. Hunters don’t need it; people don’t need it for their personal security. There’s not a single person that was at that parade, even if we were all armed, that could of done anything about a guy sneaking up on us from a rooftop and shooting down on us like fish in a barrel.”
The shooter was captured by police late Monday night.
Blake Haas can be reached at [email protected].
