in new york. breaking news, a reported shooting at a fourth of july parade in the chicago suburb of highland park has left an unknown number of people injured. illinois state police are assisting local law enforcement. our chicago station says police are still searching for the person firing shots, according to authorities. police are asking everyone to stay out of the area and allow law enforcement and first responders to do their work. the governor says he's made all state resources available. democratic congressman brad schneider says he was at the start of the parade when the shooting began and adds he and his team are safe. highland park and nearby evanston, illinois have canceled their fourth of july festivities. our affiliate reports streets were cleared along the parade route as well as nearby glencoe. here is what witnesses are telling our affiliate. >> i heard like a pop, pop, pop. like everybody, i thought it's maybe a display from one of the

floats. then it just opened up, that familiar, you know, semi gunfire. just a rain of shots. >> nbc's rehema ellis has been monitoring this. rehema, what do we know right now? >> reporter: not much more than what you talked about, steve, because this is unfolding as we speak. you pointed out the police are looking for a suspect. this event happened, this mass shooting happened just a short while after the fireworks, the fourth of july festivities, were getting under way. as you reported, there are reports of several people who were shot. we do not at this point have an exact number of how many people were shot or if any people were killed in this incident. as one person was saying there that we just heard from, people were enjoying a fourth of july

festivity, a parade, in highland park. this is a community about 25 miles north of chicago. when they heard these sounds ring out. the guy was saying there, you heard a pop, pop, pop, and he said it was like a rain of shots that just came down on this festivity. an interesting thing about all of this too is people are reporting that there was a heavy presence of police and fire vehicles in the parade, which is often seen in fourth of july festivities. but it didn't seem to make a difference in terms of deterring whoever it was that decided to fire upon this. there are reports from the newspapers and from associated press that hundreds of the paradegoers were visibly bloodied and fled the parade route, leaving behind all they had brought with them, their lawn chairs, baby strollers and blankets, as they just ran in fear of their lives. the authorities were also

telling everyone as quickly as possible to leave the area because it was not safe. so again, shots rang out today at a fourth of july parade in highland park just north of chicago. there are reports of several people being shot. one incident, we are getting from a reporter who said he saw blankets being placed on several bodies. but again, at this moment we do not have an exact number of how many people have been killed or how many people injured. but there was panic today as a fourth of july celebration got under way and quickly ended in mayhem. >> of course there were families and children there running for cover no doubt. thank you so much, rehema ellis. i want to bring in retired seattle police chief carmen best, an msnbc law enforcement analyst. chief, what are law enforcement likely doing on the ground? take us through, if you can, the investigative process for a situation like this. >> yeah, good afternoon, another

tragic mass shooting here on our independence day on the fourth of july. i'm so sorry to hear this. police chief's worst nightmare, of course, to have to respond to something like this in the community. it's the 308th mass shooting this year. right now police are going to be trying to ascertain as much information as they can about this shooter. my understanding, at least at this point, the person is not in custody and is outstanding. that's going to be priority number one, to make sure they locate this person and end any potential harm to anyone else. additionally, they will be trying to make sure people they do have on scene, getting information from them, making sure medics come in, get people treated, transported as needed to the hospital, getting as much information, collecting any avoid from the area, anyone who has firsthand accounts, and

again, a description of where the person may have fled to, a direction of travel, clothing, et cetera, to lead them to find the perpetrator as they're trying to also hustle people out of the area for safety purposes. >> we've heard the governor has made all state resources available. does that help the investigative capabilities of what's going on right now? >> absolutely. being able to have resources that can help pan out, look for any information, help identify any details or evidence. i'm sure it will help the local jurisdiction and will be very much appreciated. this is the type of event that really does call for all hands on deck. there's nothing worse than having a crowd of this size here to celebrate our wonderful national holiday, be attacked in this way. so there will be a lot of

resources provided to help find this person or persons involved and make sure that everyone else is safe. >> our nbc station in chicago there reporting that the suspect is still at large. when there is a situation like this with so many potential witnesses, does that slow down the investigation process? is there such a thing as too many witnesses? >> well, i don't think there's ever too many witnesses. they'll clearly prioritize a number of people and who they're talking to, who was closest to the scene, who saw something that they could provide right away. so they'll take all information. nothing is too small to take in. clearly they're going to prioritize those who have a more firsthand account and can give the most critical details, will be the first people they talk to and trying to get information that way. >> and carmen, i wanted to ask, we know now several surrounding communities have canceled their july 4th celebrations.

is that something you would expect in a situation like this? >> yeah, it is, actually. you know, there's nothing more important than public safety. at this point the person or persons involved are outstanding. they don't know where they're going or what may happen. it would be reckless to continue to have large crowds gather with the uncertainty that they have right now. so much better to be safe than sorry on a day like today or any day, actually, when you have large people gathered and unknown or outstanding suspect who is armed. >> a peaceful fourth of july parade suddenly turned into anything but. the chaos that followed, just unbelievable. thank you for helping us make sense of this, carmen best, we appreciate it. turning now to akron, ohio, a city on edge following the police shooting death of 25-year-old jayland walker. protesters are out again calling for justice. nbc's kathy park spoke to one of them who said they are prepared

to keep the pressure on until changes are made. >> i know akron well. i'll tell you something. these people gonna stand up. this is the beginning. i'm gonna tell you something, i know this from the heart, this is not going to be no blow-over thing. >> the city has imposed a 9:00 p.m. curfew and canceled tonight's fireworks in an effort to keep demonstrations from getting out of control. nbc's maggie vespa has more. >> reporter: akron a city on edge tonight. people here are demanding justice for jayland walker as the city is now releasing video to shed light on his violent last moments. we'll warn you, some of the video you're about to see is disturbing. overnight, outrage in ohio as protests continued with what appeared to be tear gas dispersed into the crowd according to wkyc. and a community in pain after

watching the moment eight akron police officers fired an estimated 90 rounds, according to authorities. harrowing body cam video shedding new light on what led to the barrage of bullets that killed 25-year-old jayland walker. >> the video you are about to watch is heartbreaking and very tough to take in. >> reporter: the approximately seven-minute video begins with a high speed chase. police saying officers had tried to pull walker over for an unspecified traffic violation but he fled. seconds later, a gunshot from walker's car. police say you can see the flash from the gun in this security video. the video then shows walker running from his car, wearing a ski mask. police say officers tried to tase him but missed. authorities adding officers said they thought walker was turning toward them, reaching for a gun.

that's when they say eight opened fire. [ sound of gunfire ] >> the m.e.'s report indicates over 60 wounds to mr. walker's body. >> reporter: the investigation now showing walker was unarmed when he was shot. police say they found a gun in his car along with a wedding ring. his family revealing sunday walker had recently lost his fiance. the family's attorney demanding more transparency. >> the public today only saw one video. we saw two. the public didn't see an officer dropping his clip because it was empty of bullets and then reloading. we saw that. >> reporter: overnight akron police responding they're confident the videos they provided are in accordance to what's required and in compliance of the city's ordinance. did the video change your interpretation of what happened, of what you thought about the shooting at all? >> no. i just felt like as a mother, that could have been my child. it doesn't take that many shots. >> reporter: those eight still unnamed akron police officers now on paid leave pending the

investigation. the police department saying that is standard. and the state has now taken over the investigation into this deadly shooting. maggie vespa, nbc news, akron, ohio. >> maggie, thanks. i want to bring in now charles coleman, civil rights attorney and msnbc legal analyst. charles, police have said, quote, actions by the suspect caused the officers to perceive he posed a deadly threat to them and because of that, they discharged their firearms, striking the suspect. from what you've seen, does this body cam footage support that argument? >> absolutely not. i think before you talk about this, there are so many different things about the situation that don't make sense, one of them being that if they believed he posed a deadly threat or was capable of posing a deadly threat, then that undercuts the notion of them using the tasers to begin with. they used the tasers, missed with the tasers, and then they decided to use their firearms as

a means of trying to subdue the suspect. in addition to that, the notion that one man who ultimately was actually unarmed posed a dangerous threat to any one of those eight not only armed but bodily armored officers is absolutely absurd, as he is trying to get away from him. it will be telling what the medical examiner report says, ultimately as far as where the exit wounds are. i think we will ultimately learn there are exit wounds in his back which indicates that he was fleeing. what the akron police have said does not reconcile with common sense. >> i did want to ask you about the breaking news in highland park, our affiliate is approaching the search for a suspect in a mass shooting is continuing right now.

what are your thoughts about another shooting like this? >> my thoughts are linked to the conversation we were just having. ultimately america has to reconcile its own love a few with violence. we want to deal with violence in terms of how we engage in a vacuum. what we need to understand is that we cannot allow ourselves to engage and indulge violence as such an integral part of our culture and not expect that it's going to bleed into some of our most sacred places. we've seen violence overtake american life in normally places like the grocery store or sacred places like churches. violence knows no boundaries. we can't continue to engage this conversation about violence and sort of think we can contain or control it as we see fit. this is the function of a toxic

love affair that american culture has had with violence for far too long. >> we're getting reports that hundreds of people were fleeing for safety when the shots started, there were crowds surrounding the parade route. i said earlier it was shocking to hear about a shooting at a fourth of july parade, but as you mentioned, we have shootings in grocery stores and churches, so i'm not sure if "shocking" is exactly the word anymore. what do you say to people who want to say that it is a shocking situation? is it surprising anymore? >> my question would be, what's different? and how much attention have you been paying? have you been paying attention over the last literal decade plus? we've seen violence overtake our schools, our churches, our homes and communities. there's a number of different things we neglect as a society that ultimately results in this type of mishap and unfortunate event occurring. we also have to acknowledge the writing has been on the wall for

quite some time and we've chosen to ignore it. we've chosen to act as though these are isolated incidents, these are lone wolves, these are people who acted alone. after a certain point in time, there is something about how we are engaging society, how we're engaging violence, about how we're not engaging community, that leads to these things happening over and over again. my response to them would be, it's time to wake up, it's time to stop being delusional, and understand we have a serious problem with our relationship with violence in this country and the lack of support that we give to so many people and communities. that's where a lot of this comes from. >> a problem that's all but impossible to ignore right now. i want to bring in former police chief carmen best, we spoke with her a moment ago. we're hearing now possibly hundreds of people were fleeing from this situation there in highland park. how does it even begin to -- how do you begin a search for one

person in a group of so many people, finding a needle in a haystack there, carmen? >> the officers, the people involved, law enforcement, will be collecting as much information as possible about the shooter, the location of the shooter, what that person or persons may have been wearing, which direction of travel. of course like in any situation, it's going to be a lot of chaos, when the shooting first occurs, people will obviously flee for their safety. but as people are able to get to a secure spot and officers are able to get information from eyewitnesses and pick up information from any cameras that were in the area or anybody who may have been videoing the parade as it was getting ready to start, they'll be sifting through all of that to try to locate the perpetrator or perpetrators here today. so there are certainly ways to try to get information and get information very quickly. as you can see, there are a lot

of resources being deployed already. a lot of folks that we talk to. so they'll be able to come up with a description and more information i'm sure very shortly in this type of situation. law enforcement trains for these types of mass casualties. as the attorney said earlier, unfortunately, sadly, these occurrences are happening with a relative amount of frequency. preparation is part of the planning for everything. >> preparation definitely important to tackle a situation like this. joining us now by phone is retired atf special agent in charge jim kavanaugh. we know some outside agencies and other cities are reaching out to highland park to help in this situation. jim, how do you even begin an investigation like this? >> well, you know, you have a fourth of july parade event. what you have is a lot of witnesses. and witnesses scattered all over. so there's going to be people that have seen the egress of the

gunman and they'll be able to relay that to the uniformed officers who are flooding the place. you're also going to have all the federal and state agents coming in from the surrounding communities, they'll set up a massive command center. once the wounded and shot people are taken care of, the critical thing is locating the gunman because if he's loose, he could strike again. he could even strike again today at another event. the whole region has to be on alert. the intelligence is going to be really from the public. it will take them agent time to track back on cameras and shoe leather detective work. but the immediate information will come in from eyewitnesses as quick as they can to the uniformed officers to tries to disseminate a description of the

guy. tips could come in to police from relatives of the shooter, "i didn't think he was going to do this," "this might have been my ex-husband" or something. there's a lot of information that will come in, i'm sure they're working all those channels right now. >> when you have hundreds of people storming away from this, jim, is it important to preserve physical evidence in this situation? >> of course, you know, the crowds, when everybody's running, shell casings, you know, can be kicked around. they'll be able to retrieve enough certainly to know what's happened, to do firearms examination on the shell casings or bullets left in the victims' bodies. all that have will come later. initially they just want to help anyone who's wounded and get the people shot -- and the families, they'll send up a family center nearby so families of those wounded can go and get

information on their loved ones. of course if there are a number of people wounded, hospitals will be -- we don't have any numbers now, we're hoping they're low, but we have a parade event. we talk about killers who go to schools, walmarts, churches, synagogues, where they really go to is to crowds. sometimes there's a specific motivate to an attack like an attack at a synagogue or black church, that could be a white nationalist. but if it's somebody who is just a mass killer and wants to kill a crowd, they could go anywhere where there are people gathered. that may be what we're seeing here, we don't know. certainly one of the pieces of the motive for mass killings, that's where the crowd is. >> carmen, in terms of motive, when does the investigation shift to that?

right now of course the focus is finding the person who did this. >> the first priority is going to be life safety, ensuring they're taking care of the wounded and those who may have been injured during the shooting, and then of course it's absolutely paramount they locate the suspect or suspects involved, because until they do, everyone else is at risk. we just don't know the status, what's in that person's mind or what their intent is. so that's going to be critically important. and then once located, once they're able to, you know, get this person into custody or find out where they are, then they can start looking at other things like motive, why did this happen. of course as was stated, you know, the draw is the crowd. people being there, if someone is looking to do a mass shooting, they're going to go to where the people are, whether that's a parade, the mall, grocery store, a library, a

place of faith. so again, on a day like today when there are so many of these events occurring, it was very wise, i believe, for people to forego large gatherings, while they have a person whose motive is questionable. we don't know what their intent, next level of intent will be, to close down any further opportunities for mass violence this evening. >> and i wanted to ask charles coleman, who we were speaking to just a bit ago, about this situation. the shooter, according to our nbc station there in chicago has not yet been caught. of course politicization happens rapidly, especially online right now. what do you say to people who would politicize this and try to bring up the gun laws in the chicago area right now which i'm seeing online already? charles coleman, what do you tell those people? >> i think, again, you are

having the wrong conversation if you want to make this a political issue around guns and not around the reasons why people use guns and why they engage. of course access to guns and everything else are also very much so an issue. so i think that it's not necessarily one or the other. it's not an either/or, it's an and/also. part of the problem is we want to politicize things in a vacuum and address things in narrow spaces. we have to have a systemic and comprehensive conversation about why crime occurs in america. there are people who literally spend their entire career studying this. they know it very well. yet still despite that data we don't do anything with it with respect to how we direct our resources. i should say we don't do enough. in terms of how we talk about politicizing this, if we're going to politicize it, if we're going to have a political conversation about it, let's have a conversation about what safety looks like from a holistic point of view. what does safety look like in

communities for different americans who have been pushed to the marginalized fringe places of america who have to suffer from violence on a daily basis? we have seen this because it occurred on a july 4th weekend in the middle of a celebratory parade, but there are people across america who are subject to violent crime every single day. that issue is not politicized in the way it should be because if it were, we would be having conversations about how guns get into a community and how they're used in a community. i think all of that requires us to engage and embrace nuance. if you're going to politicize it, don't just politicize the conversation about guns and access to guns. let's politicize, that's the have the really deeper discussion, let's really explore, what does safety look like in 2022 for americans across the country? >> definitely a need for a broader conversation there. carmen best, i wanted to ask

you, as we brought up earlier, there were law enforcement members there on scene and possibly even marching, there was a parade there. how quickly can they bust into action, i guess? or do they have to wait for a responding officer? we've seen officers respond, off-duty, on-duty. is that something you would expect to happen here? >> absolutely. i myself have marched in many of these parades as a police chief and even as an officer. of course while you're there, you're on alert, and for me, i would actually be scanning the crowd as i was marching in the parade as well. while you're being friendly, you're also aware of your surroundings as well to make sure that you can also be an extra set of eyes and ears on what's occurring. as we've seen in recent events, officers are to take action immediately on any type of shooting but certainly a mass shooting of this nature. we would not expect them to stand by and wait, we would expect them to act as soon as possible. i'm fairly certain that that did

happen, although i don't have any detail, that that did happen at this event, it was a case of all hands on deck and everybody there responding. again, with a focus on life safety, getting to the injured as well as locating the outstanding subject. >> it doesn't seem that having law enforcement on scene deterred this shooter, anyway, as our nbc station there in chicago says, the search continues. jim kavanaugh who has been joining us by phone, we know that other surrounding cities have canceled their fourth of july fireworks as well. is this a situation where a perimeter would be set up to try to find the suspect or how would they go about it? >> the perimeter will be very loose now. by the time you get it set up, he's probably made egress out of the area. they'll do their best. this is a suburb of the chicago of chicago, highland park. they'll have plenty of officers

but they'll have to have plenty of eyewitnesses to describe his egress from the shooting scene, did people see him go down this block or that block, did he get into a vehicle. then they can jump on surveillance cameras and maybe even get lucky and get a license plate or something. it's a very difficult chase in these early moments, is when you're really trying to grab the most eyewitness information you can get from people who call in to the police and give them the tips. and of course as a commander, you're looking for motive, you always want motive because it might answer a question for you and help your direction. but it's very early, it's kind of early for that. but if i was a commander, i would be thinking along the lines of, you know, this is somebody that hates america. who shoots up a fourth of july parade? who shoots up a fourth of july parade? that is a very different kind of person, that's a person whose probably expressed, you know, very anti-american views, and he

may have or she, could be a woman of course, most likely it's a man, but expressed those feelings before, posted them online. and we know from recent fbi studies that 77% of these mass killers leak, in other words they say something to their friends, relatives, boyfriend, girlfriend, or post on the internet that they're thinking about doing an act like this. >> definitely motive comes into play in figuring out where the suspect may go next. please stick around, and we'll have more on this shooting at highland park, illinois just outside chicago, right on the other side of this break. ago, r other side of this break

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look what it has done. i'm in a size 4 pair of pants. go golo. (soft music) we're back with that breaking news from the chicago suburb of highland park. we now know five people are confirmed dead, 16 others have been taken to the hospital after a shooting at a fourth of july parade, according to the city of highland park. i want to bring back in carmen

best, former seattle police chief, about this situation there, that devastating update, five dead, carmen, 16 taken to the hospital. when you hear these numbers, is that what you would expect when a shooting happens in a crowd like this? >> yeah, it is, sadly. we know that multiple people were going to be affected. we didn't have the numbers early on, obviously. but now we know at least 21 people, five dead, 16 injured. that number may go up as to the casualties. but it's very tragic and very sad to see another mass shooting incident, particularly on this fourth of july holiday, happening here in this country. it certainly seems like we have epidemic levels. it's my understanding that this is the 308th mass shooting this year, very sad. right now i'm sure many of the law enforcement there are rallying to try to find the

outstanding suspect and make sure others aren't injured as well today. >> the background of this, of course, people were going there to celebrate the country, then this shooting happened. i want to bring back in rehema ellis who has been following this story from the beginning. we got that update on numbers now. what else do we know, rehema? >> reporter: according to the city of highland website, they are asking residents in the area to shelter in place. they're saying this is still an active incident because the shooter is still at large. so what we do know, as you mentioned, what was unconfirmed just moments ago, now it is confirmed that there are fatalities and a number of injured, five fatalities, 16 injured and taken to the hospital. this is still unfolding. we don't know, as was just mentioned, if that number of fatalities will increase. we do know that authorities are actively looking for a shooter. they're telling people in the

area that they need to shelter in place. first they were telling people to leave, disperse from the parade route as quickly as possible. now, according to the city's website, they have created a perimeter around the parade area. and once again, residents in the area have been advised to shelter in place. a morning that was all designed to be about fun and enjoyment and celebration has turned into tragedy. first mayhem and now tragedy, steve. >> rehema, thanks for that update. no doubt parents now trying to explain to their children why they've had to flee a parade route and are now in their homes, sheltering in place. carmen, the city is calling this an active shooter situation. how does that change the way the investigation unfolds? does it change the situation? >> certainly there is a level of urgency to locating and finding this outstanding suspect.

it's very similar to like when they have the boston bombing and they ended up finding the suspect hiding in someone's boat that they had on their property. so we don't know where the person has gone, whether it's male or female. we don't know where they are hiding or may have gone to ground or if they fled the area completely as things are unfolding. so sheltering in place is an important thing to happen, lock all doors and windows, keep a good guard out, particular those in the very close vicinity to where that parade route was. again, we don't know if the person was able to get to a vehicle or other mode of transportation or if in fact they fled on foot and is still hiding in the area. all of this is unfolding, happening as we speak. i'm certain that a number of law enforcement are taking in as many tips as possible and trying to get a description so that they can locate this outstanding suspect. >> hopefully they are getting

that clear description with all those witnesses there. joining us by phone, jim kavanaugh, former special agent in charge at the atf. hearing that this is an active shooting investigation, what would the atf be doing in a situation like this, jim? >> the atf, just like the fbi does, they supply the full gamut of investigative capabilities. the special agents are just like detectives, so they plug in with the detectives, they do interviews, canvass the area. they'll pull video cameras, whatever the detective bureau is doing, fbi and atf agents will be doing. they'll also layer on different expertise that can help the officers, like urgent gun tracing, urgent firearms and ballistic information, expert information about any kind of firearms that might have been used. there's all kind of things they could add in, you know, that

helps the police. sketch artists, you know, different interviewers. they layer on more and more resources to help the detective bureau to get this thing moving really fast. what you want on these things is a lot of law enforcement officers working in concert, quickly. because the more you have on the ground, you can imagine that when you have the shooting scene, five dead, 16 wounded, you've got a scene that's all over the street out there, it could even spread out over a block or more. it could be in one spot. but, i mean, all the cameras on all the stores on both sides of this parade route are going to have to get taken in, looked at. and this was on a day when all these businesses are probably closed for the fourth of july. so the owners have to come in, you're going to have to get that security footage, that takes a lot of manpower, it takes a lot of detectives and special agents. so they all throw in together to make a giant investigative team to get all that stuff done.

and of course they've got to set up a command post, on-scene command, tip lines. we've got a manhunt on our hands with a loose, active killer. that's the main thing the community has to understand, you have a loose, active mass killer and he might kill together. he might be holed up somewhere, watching the news, trying to find out what his deeds did, in other words the results of his actions. he wants to know, how many people did i kill, how many people did i shoot, so that's all going through his mind. but he could also be trying to get to another place, to do it again, or even to just escape and go somewhere afar. so we don't know, he could be doing any and all those things. he could have even killed some of his close family members, loved ones, or relatives, co-workers, somewhere to begin this murder spree, that

sometimes happens, many cases, that happens. you can think of newtown where the shooter killed his mother first and then went to the school and killed the children. and that happens often as well. where there's domestic violence, you know, in uvalde, the shooter shot his grandmother in the face and then went to the school. the law enforcement has to be on their game because they could be called to a shooting and that could be the residence of the killer. so there's a lot going on in the chicagoland region right now. all the citizens are now leveraged with the police. i was department commander in the dc sniper, we leveraged that ability, did it on many other cases, bombings and violence, leveraged the community to be on your side, by getting information out there quickly, where they can call in and give

you that critical tip that could help you. it's everybody and the police versus the active mass killer. that's the situation. so you want all the people on your side, working with you, and they are, but you have to leverage that, be able to gather that information, assess it quickly, work on it, analyze it, act on it, get a warrant, locate him, stop him from killing again. >> jim, it's just chilling to hear all of the even recent shootings that you were comparing this to. as you mentioned, of course, waiting on a description of that suspect, so we can get out there. carmen best, i wanted to ask you, we're hearing from reporting from rehema ellis that they're creating a perimeter or they have created a perimeter around the parade, the section of the parade, possibly the route. what will that process be like? we know there are several agencies involved. would one be coordinating this? >> like jim said, they'll be

setting up a command post, identifying different commanders, usually by geography, about who's got what quadrants or sectors, where they set up checkpoint and that kind of thing to make sure they're checking vehicles and personnel into and out of the area. i'm not sure how wide that perimeter is. i imagine it's pretty broad at this point, simply because of the amount of time that has passed since this shooting originally occurred. and the person is either, you know, fled the area or gone to ground. and it could be, like jim was saying, holed up somewhere, looking to see, you know, what was the actual outcome, how many people were injured and that kind of thing, trying to get any intel they can. could be a whole host of different scenarios there. one of the good things that really helped us on some cases when i was a chief was having the fbi profiler involved. like was said earlier, sometimes

they can get information, just because of their training, they'll know to look for something like who had an anti-american bent or who has been posting lately against usa. i imagine that the fourth of july parade events was picked for a specific reason, they may be able to delve into some of that to help identify who the perpetrator may be. there may be calls of people being injured or shots fired somewhere else in the area that could be connected to this as well. so all of those things, we don't know, but all of those things could in fact help us, help law enforcement to find the shooter. >> definitely they'll be waiting for that. thank you, carmen. congressman brad schneider represents highland park and was at the parade. thank you for joining us, congressman. what did you see, what can you tell us that happened? >> thank you for having me on, and i just want to say i'm devastated for my community.

this is my home. five people murdered, 16 hurt. i'm praying for all of them. we were gathering at the parade. this was to be the second of five parades i was attending, so i was just arriving into highland park at the time of the shooting. people heard the shots on my team and everyone quickly scattered, everyone was running around. i went around the parade, came to a place where there were some kids gathering, trying to call their parents. i stopped and offered them to use my phone and helped direct traffic to clear out the area. but this is communities around the country, every day this is happening. something that should never happen is happening on a daily basis. today it happened in my community. our heart is broken. >> congressman, did you see any injuries? is everyone who you were with, were they okay? >> so everyone on my team, obviously everyone scattered, we located and make sure everyone

got to a safe place, they're secure and home now with their families. i've been talking to family and friends and various other people. what i do know, i spoke with the county sheriff who was walking the parade, when he heard the shots and everyone scattered, he ran to the center of town and tried to help. he was the first one to confirm to me that people had been murdered. and as you have on the screen, five dead, 16 heard. >> five deaths that highland park is reporting right now. do you know anything about the victims? what can you tell us? >> i know that a couple of them are seniors. that's all i know. i know people have said someone who is hurt, i don't remember if it was their aunt or grandmother, was killed. this is a community where people know each other, people care for each other. i suspect when all the news comes together, we will be identifying friends and loved

ones, caring for them. as we've seen in other communities, after a tragedy like this, it takes a long time for the community to heal and recover. and we need to be prepared to do everything we can to give the support the community needs. but at the same time, we have to take steps to reduce this violence we're seeing across the country. every day, another shooting. every day, another life ended, lives ended, and families destroyed. we have to do so much better than we're doing on reducing gun violence. >> we are waiting on a press conference for the latest on this investigation and the search for this shooter. we know there was a shelter in place issued for people in that area. what are you telling your constituents right now? >> stay inside, stay safe. the shooter, my understanding as of now, the shooter is still at large.

>> i'm not sure if -- it looks like we may have lost congressman schneider. we'll try to get him back. we are still waiting on that press conference from the city of highland park who is leading this investigation with now the help of many surrounding suburbs. i wanted to go now again to carmen best. we were speaking with you right before we got the congressman. when we hear about the situation and we hear about the stampede that happened away from the area where the shots were fired, carmen, what do you think, whenever you hear that from the congressman? who are you going to be listening for from this press conference? >> yeah, well, again, as congressman said, it's just another tragic and sad event that's happening, another mass shooting, in a community that, you know, was unsuspecting in some ways. i guess all of us recognize we're all at risk at certain times at these large events. in the press conference, you

know, i've been to many of these myself, as a public information officer, and again, as a chief. they want to make sure they get as much information out as possible to the public. any instructions about sheltering in place, any type of information they might have on the identity or the appearance of the suspect, they want to make sure as much facts and transparency as possible. at the same time, you know, because it's such a chaotic scene, information can often change based upon as information flows in. they'll try and give as much accurate information as possible to, one, keep people safe, and two, find the suspect. >> carmen, thanks for that. we have congressman brad schneider back with us. congressman, can you tell us anything about the suspect, the person they're looking for? >> i don't have any information. they put out an alert that someone with a large yellow backpack, is the only detail

authorities have issued. what i do know is that there are five people in our community who are murdered and 16 hurt and our entire community, celebrating independence day, thousands of people come out for this parade, it's a festive occasion, people gathering from all walks of life, celebrating together, and today that celebration was destroyed by a horrific shooting attack that killed five of our community. >> and at the bottom right side of our screen we see there are microphones in place as we await that press conference. congressman schneider, you were there when this happened. you heard the shots. did you immediately realize what was happening? >> no, as i said, this was one of five parades i walk in, so i was just getting to town. people on my team heard shots rang out, police started running down the parade route, telling people to go home. first responders immediately

went to the corner where the shooting happened. >> i can't imagine, just the pandemonium at a parade where these shots started. you mentioned earlier you saw a group of young people, i guess, who were trying to contact their parents, reminds me of

and several rounding communities as this search continues. we're awaiting a press

conference right now and hopefully some more information on those hurt as the effort to reunite people who were at this parade as we were just hearing from congressman brad schneider trying to reunite people who were thinking they were going to a parade and instead are at a crime scene and have to speak with police to get a description of that shooter out to the public and congressman snyder telling us about helping people get back in contact with their families, a lot of young people there at the scene and congressman, you mentioned that this is one of i think five parades you think you said you were going to today. i'm sure no doubt those are cancelled and this one of course is now cancelled. where do you see things moving forward? every community now is in fear that every time you have a public gathering, someone is

going to interrupt that public gathering and end in tragedy. my hope is out of these tragedies, it's just over a week now since house and senate passed the bipartisan safer communities act. i think there is far more you can do to make the community safe, making it illegal to traffic guns across state lines. i don't know anything about the circumstances of the shooter today but more than 90% of our country supports the idea of universal background checks. there's more we can do and we need to find a way to come together across the aisle to work together and make our communities and our kids safer. >> congressman, we're talking about this most recent mass shooting that happened just a couple hours ago. we also have the uvalde, buffalo

recently and then this gun bill passed and the shootings continued. what do you tell the families, specifically of these five that are dead, what you do you tell them? i'm sure the frustration is palpable. what do you possibly say to them? >> i don't know what you say to them. i've been think about this. i'm named after my mother's uncle, who was murdered in 1943 when a gunman walked in his office and shot him four times. if you talk to my mother, her sisters and brothers, even though this happened 80 years ago, it's like it happened yesterday. the tragedy inflicted today in highland park, every day in communities across our country, they are tragedies that live with these families the rest of their lives and across generations. >> no doubt. i don't know what words i'll say but i will be talking to the families in my community. >> well, i'm sure that's a difficult conversation. speaking of difficult conversations, we're going to

hear from the authorities now. >> first there's going to be commander chris o'neil, a commander with the highland park police department and was the incident commander this morning and nancy rotering, the mayor of highland parked and i will speak on behalf of the crime force, chris covelli and we'll start with commander o'neil. >> hello, my name is commander chris o'neil. those injured and everyone impacted by this horrific, senseless violence. there was an active shooter

incident during our 4th of july holiday parade. all individuals are urged is it still shelter in place at this time. police and local and federal law enforcement agencies are searching for the suspect, described as a male, white, approximately 18 to 20 years old with longer black hair, a small build and wearing a white or blue t-shirt. a firearm has been recovered from the scene. we have secured the perimeter around downtown highland park and are continuing our searches. at this time two dozen people have been transported to highland park hospital. six are confirmed deceased. anyone with videos, photos o other evidence are asked to call authorities. we will provide a tip line in

short order. >> this morning at 10:14 our community was terrorized by an act of violence has that shaken us to our core. our hearts go out to the families of the victims during this devastating time. on a day that we came together to celebrate community and freedom, we're instead mourning the loss, the tragic loss of life and struggling with the terror that was brought upon us. while we've all felt the burden of this terrible act, i want to be pause and thank the first responders who ran towards the dangers who render aid during this active shooter situation. we saw individuals who responded selflessly and put themselves at risk to save others. we've had an outpouring of support from federal, state, county and fellow municipalities of resources and offers of condolences and concern and we will avail ourselves of everything that they offer to us

immediately. at this point we know six people have lost their lives and we are grieving for them and their families, members of our community who came out to celebrate together and instead faced this terror. another 24 have been transported to the hospital. multiple agencies include the fbi and state police are working with our local authorities and the governor has offered his full sport. what we know at this time is this is an active situation and we urge everyone to remain indoors and be on high alert but remain calm. please contact your loved ones and ensure that they're safe and let them know that you're safe as well. this situation, as you know, is evolving rapidly and we will continue to update you as we gain information and stabilize the situation. thank you. >> so from a team management perspective at this point, it is a very active scene.

highland park police department is leading this investigation into the apprehension of the offender here. we're asking everybody to stay indoors and stay vigilant right now. this person is not identified. by all means at this point this appears to be completely random. there have been questions coming in. are we safe tonight? that's up for each community to make on their own. this person is not yet in custody. we have s.w.a.t. teams going door to door. anybody with any video surveillance is strongly encouraged to contact the highland park police department and sorry we can look at that and it can be useful in our investigation. we are processing the scene. it will be a very methodical processing of the scene. an investigation has commenced and is under way. we're going to do our very best to provide briefing updates every 30 minutes to an hour, if

we can. we will keep the community informed and we thank you for covering this and sharing this information again. very sad day here. >> was the weapon recovered? >> it was a rifle. >> is he barricaded? >> there is no indication he's barricaded. that has been circling around. there is no indication of that. investigators are very, very quickly working to try to identify who this person is and try to figure out where he's at. >> so it does appear he was shooting from a roof. i don't have that information right now. >> reporter: [ inaudible ]. >> so right now there's multiple agencies. highland park police is leading the initial response and working directly with the fbi and highland park police