welcome back to a special edition of "andrea mitchell reports." we are awaiting an update on the tragic mass shooting at the highland july 4th parade. six people are dead, two dozen injured after a gunman armed with a high-powered rifle opened fire from a rooftop on people celebrating in an upscale small community north of chicago. >> you hear people screaming, bodies down, bodies down. >> i saw people on the ground. >> i ran with my daughter. she was scared. i was trying to find a place to hide with her. >> the person of interest in custody is 21-year-old robert crimo iii. he has a history of posting violent videos about shootings. the rifle they found was

obtained legally, according to the mayor of highland. >> whether it's buffalo, new york, uvalde, texas, whether it's highland park, illinois, this is unbelievable to me that this is an acceptable part of who we are as a nation. >> in philadelphia last night, more americans running for their lives during another shooting at a skrul 4th celebration. a concert near the city's iconic art museum. two police officers were injured and another mayor then speaking out about gun violence in center city. >> we're the most armed country in world history, and we are one of the least safest. until americans decide that they want to give up the guns and give up the opportunity to get guns, we're going to have this problem. >> joining me now from highland park, illinois, shaquille brewster and with me nbc's ken

dilanian. shaq, what's the latest as we are awaiting this press conference, which is expected in about 10 or 15 minutes? >> reporter: that's right, andrea. it will begin any minute now. that's where we will get the latest from the county sheriff, which has been running this investigation. that's who has been providing updates. the last we heard from the sheriff was last night when this person of interest, who they believe is responsible for the shooting, was initially captured. this will be a major update. see if it goes from person of interest to a suspect. you mentioned the victims. we know there were 12 people that woke up in the hospital this morning. we know nearly 50 were hospitalized as a result of this shooting. six people lost their lives, never were able to come home after attending a 4th of skrul parade. what we know about them, there's a 76-year-old grandfather, nick toledo who spent most of his life in mexico who moved here

two months ago. he enjoys fishing, walks around town. never wanted to be inside. there's jackie sundheim. she was a member of a synagogue. she was the coordinator of the bar mitzvah program there. that synagogue is three miles away from highland park where we are right now. we expect to learn more about the other victims. those are the two we have at this point. we expect to hear pore from the other victims, especially as this community continues mourning. we know there are several vigils planned no just here but really all across the area as we continue to see and learn more about the victims but also learn more about this investigation, which we will hear from investigators in just a few mintss. >> i know you will stand by. with me is ken dilanian. nbc news is roring the shooter had purchased multiple weapons

and legally apparently, that he was of age to purchase these weapons. there was an assault weapon ban by the mayor instituted in the little community, 30,000 people of highland park. >> that's right. authorities haven't said exactly what type of weapon was used in the shooting other than it was a high powered rifle. we heard the repeated discharges of the weapon. seemed like an automatic weapon. this person of interest left a long trail of disturbing social media posts online. people may be wondering, how did -- if it's him, how did he purchase these weapons legally? illinois has a red flag law, andrea. in order to invoke that, somebody has to petition a court. threats of violence are a reason you could prevent somebody from getting a gun or take them away under this law. but you have to go to a judge, show the judge the threats of violence and get the judge to rule that a person shouldn't have their firearms. it's not clear to what extent people were aware of his violent

postings. he posted a video of a beheading. he seemed to revel in mass violence. he didn't make direct threats. it's one of those situations that are so difficult for law enforcement. >> just to follow up. if someone is posting these very graphic, horrible mass shootings, these killings, is that enough for someone to go to a judge and try to invoke the red flag law? does he have to take some action? >> it's not 100 clear. from what we can tell, this law has been invoked infrequently since it was enacted in 2019 in illinois. this is certainly going to be a public policy debate going forward. if it isn't the case that these could invoke a red flag law, why isn't it? where is the line? these kinds of postings are not actionable. law enforcement will not arrest somebody. it's protected speech under the constitution. time and again we see this in

these mass shootings. we saw it in uvalde. people don't have an ideologysu. but they are enmeshed in this violent world online. some small percentages of those people are committing this violence. these postings are an indicator. what as a society are we doing to identify these people? >> that's exactly what the mayor was saying today. she was saying, don't talk about mental health. i don't want to talk about mental health. i don't want to talk about owe problems. i want to talk about the availability of guns. the law the president signed two weeks ago is a weak substitute according to the critics. i know you will stand by as well, shaq and ken, as we await the briefing. joining us now is a doctor who was at the parade and began treating victims. i know you are an obstetrician. you delivered so many of the babies in this town. you know so many people.

talk to me about your reactions. what were you doing when you heard the shooting? >> i went there with i had -- my wife, kids, my son-in-law, my grandson. my grandson was pushing his lawnmower through the children's parade, thank god. that finished. then the normal highland park fire truck and the search and rescue came through. the marching band came through. then there was a little lull. and then there was this horrible sound that everyone has heard, the x number of shots that sounded like a howitzer. if i'm dating myself, that's okay. people started screaming, bodies down, bodies down. that's when this community changed forever. it's not supposed to happen at a parade.

the fact that there's, again, access -- i have a 24-year-old son who when i went to try and help out, he came and he said, dad, i don't want to leave you. he was worried about me. he said, i want to try and help. i said, matthew, you need to leave now. get out of here. my son is 24. he can't rent a car. he is legal to drink for three years. at 18, when he graduated high school, he could have gotten a gun made for warfare. when a winds up in somebody who has got some kind of mental illness and it's happened all across the country, you can't treat those people with a pill. those young people, at that age, there's a lot to fix. over their 22 years, they have

come to a point where they should not have access to ruin families and ruin the lives of so many people. >> let me ask you about your children, your grandchildren. did you get them to safety before you returned to start treating the wounded? >> my wife just grabbed everyone. they started running like everyone else. i didn't leave because my instinct was not to leave. i waited for the shots to stop. then there were people on the ground and people were screaming. i wasn't the only one. there were a couple other doctors who were around. there was a nurse practitioner. there were probably other people who are not medical professionals who tried to do what they can do, which was -- the people who were killed were

blown apart. okay? the guns -- what i saw, obviously, i don't think you need a description. traumatic head injuries, abdominal organs. that's what those guns and those bullets did the bodies. the paramedics identified that there were five people dead in one of the areas that received all the injuries. there was two areas. one across the street. the people that were there -- we were trying to help calm people down, put pressure on wounds, start an iv or two. there was nothing heroic about what happened. the people who died were killed instantly by somebody on a perch with a high-powered rifle. the injuries were horrific, andrea.

i don't think i need any more description other than to say, you know, nobody needs to see them. everyone who was there didn't need to see the injuries. they just had to hear the gunfire and then ran for their lives to realize the country that we live in. >> you didn't run for your life. you turned to try to treat people. i can disagree with you saying there was nothing heroic. all of you who helped -- >> the only thing that has come out of this is an opportunity to talk to people like you who seem to care a lot about what's happening in this country. families are at risk. people are at risk. families are at risk. doesn't matter your age. doesn't matter. the people intent on inflicting damage, do it in grocery stores and they do it in schools and now they do it at parades. at the beginning of the parade,

i was more worried about somebody in a pickup truck. those are things that unfortunately after what happened in wisconsin last year i think about. today, yesterday, i felt like i had a lot of adrenaline. i was not sure what i was feeling. today i'm just horribly, horribly, horribly sad. i feel sick to my stomach. i feel like everyone has to kind of just commit that this is so unacceptable that an 18-year-old can have access. family are responsible for their kids, whether they are 18 or 21, on some level. people have responsibility to try to protect their children

from doing horrible things like this. i feel like families are not held accountable the way they should be. >> doctor -- >> we saw that in the detroit killing, where the parents fled, which was -- cowardly and irresponsible. why are families not more accountable for the acts of these 18, 19, 20, 21-year-olds? >> very, very good question. my heart -- all of us are thinking about you and the people of your community. i know you have the resources and clearly can help others. but you have to help yourself, too. everyone is hurting. this is not going to go away. the mayor said the community will never be the same. >> i agree. thank you for giving me the opportunity.

>> thank you for being with us today. ben collins, i don't know how you deal with this, because you have to read this online garbage day in and day out as part of your job. you cover extremism for all of us so we don't have to. what are you learning about this person, this person of interest? >> he had an extensive history on the internet posting about mass shootings. he was trying to make a name for himself in this space. he had posted what he called a manifesto. he posted it as a self-published ebook. he was trying to make himself into a zodiac killer type of thing. there's this fetish that he was part of on the internet. this group of people who idolize

mass killers and try to make art about mass killers. this has been around for a long time. it has accelerated recently, especially with young people in specific groups on forums. that's what we have seen so far about this. he had some political ideology. he went to a couple of right wing political events. he went to see donald trump at a motorcade. he has a picture of himself in a trump flag. the larger picture is this what i would call doomerism. this political and emotional -- people talk about how hopeless they feel and how the answer is mass violence to prove a point about that hopelessness. >> ben, is any of this actionable legally? is there any prospect of the

social media companies bearing any responsibility for this? do they make an effort? >> it's really difficult. even in his discord, had is quasi-private -- you had to have an invite to it -- there was not a lot going on there that was actionable. one time he threatened suicide on a specific instagram story post. but that's not actionable either because they found it days later. you can't prove after the fact. it's a complicated legal area. all this other stuff is viewed as art. it was a music video with 50,000 views on it. there are movies about school shootings that look like his music video. i will admit it was very bad. some people were in the discord

simply to make fun of him, probably. there's not a lot of actionable stuff out there. that's a tremendous challenge for law enforcement. it's one of the greatest challenges of our time. when is somebody trolling? when is somebody just playing around? we saw that a lot with shooters over the last few years. the fbi would show up to their house. i covered a mass shooter in 2018 whose name was future mass shooter. the fbi showed up and said, are you real? no, i'm missing around. then he shot up a school in mexico. this is an enormous challenge for law enforcement. they play around with the law knowing what they can get away with. then some of the people actually go and they commit these mass terror events. >> ben, thank you. i know you will stay around after the news conference. we will circle back to you. joining us now is democratic congressman brad schneider who

represents highland park. he was gathered with his staff at the start of the parade when the shooting started. congressman, thanks for being with us. talk to me about this district and what you experienced yesterday. >> it's a wonderful district like districts across the country. independence day say time for communities to come together and celebrate. here if highland park, my hometown, this parade, thousands of people would gather on the route. parade participants are school organizations, school band, school theater, church and synagogues. you have service organizations all celebrating america's birthday. yesterday, that celebration was shattered shortly after it started around 10:15 when the shooter from a rooftop fired off untold numbers of rounds killing, murdering six people and hurting dozens of others. is town -- our tow is rting. there's a lot of pain, a lot of grief, especially families that

lost loved ones. there's anger we haven't done anything or enough in this country to reduce the number of mass shootings. 300 mass shootings this year. anger that a fear that nothing is going to be done after this. i'm committed to working to try to reduce gun vviolence. >> congressman, what are you hearing from your constituents? how are people reacting? what kind of questions are they asking you? >> the first question is, how and why. i was downtown earlier today talking to people who were walking about. i talked to three students, siblings, a college sophomore, high school sophomore and a young woman about to start high school. they wanted to be out. they normally come to the parade. they didn't yesterday for whatever reason. you could just feel the pain and shock in their face. no community expects anything like this to happen. no community deserves anything

like this. when it does happen in your own community, it's a punch in the gut and a shock to everybody you think and believe how the world works. highland park will suffer for a long time. we are hurting. highland park is strong and will recover. >> congressman, what laws could be changed? you know the problem even with coming up with that compromise on guns. is there anything else that can be done to regulate internet speech? you run up against the first amendment. >> absolutely there are things we can and should be doing. i'm happy we had a compromise after uvalde and buffalo, the bipartisan safer communities act passed. that was a small step but a step forward. the house passed universal background check legislation in 2019 and in 2021. that hasn't moved through the senate. universal background check won't solve every problem.

but it will make it harder for people who shouldn't have guns or are a threat to themselves. >> it's clear that something went wrong with this young man. highland park's mayor knew him as a cub scott. she said, he was a little boy when you are a cub scout, you are just a little kid. something happened to this child as he grew up. he grew up in your community. someone noticed something. he dropped out of high school. some teacher, somebody must have noticed that there was something wrong with this young man. >> i'm sure. i don't know the man. i don't know the family. it's a tragic story. i'm sure there will be more information coming out in the days ahead. we can work through this gun violence. we have to address mental health issues in our country. we are underresourced after covid. so many people are struggling,

can't get access. we need to make sure we provide resources. resources at our schools, in our community in general. training professionals, whether those are doctors or psychologists, therapists. making sure we are a supportive community and getting mental health care they need and deserve. >> we have been told by tom winter and our authorities covering the federal authorities, there's no hate crime, per se. there's no specific speech against the jewish community, for >> again, i think the crime scene, the area that you are showing on camera, that area is still locked off. police and law enforcement are doing all their work to collect the evidence they need. and the appropriate charges, i'm

sure, will come. i don't know the motivation of this shooter. i can't imagine the motivation of this shooter. it's true, highland park has a large jewish community, catholic community, spanish community. when the names are released, we know that the victims have a diversity of our community. this is a strong community. many people have lived here for generations. you have seen from social media people around the country trace their roots back to highland park. it's a great place to grow up. part of that was the 4th of july celebration that began with the parade. that was shattered yesterday. our community will recover, will stay strong and we will keep those close-knit ties. >> congressman, thank you so much. thank you for your service and to the community as you recover. >> thank you. thank you for being here and sharing this story. >> you bet.

action items in the days after the president signed the new gun safety legislation, more mass shootings. what can he do? that's coming up. we are waiting for the news conference from law enforcement officials, the local officia probably led by the county sheriff. ken and shaq and ben and i are here. we will be right back after these brief messages. you are watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. ese s ese s you are watching "andrea can dramatically improve symptoms... rinvoq helps tame pain, stiffness, swelling. and for some...rinvoq can even significantly reduce ra fatigue. mitchell reports" on msnbc that's rinvoq relief. with ra, your overactive immune system attacks your joints. rinvoq regulates it to help stop the attack. rinvoq can lower your ability to fight infections, including tb. serious infections and blood clots, some fatal; cancers, including lymphoma and skin cancer;

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welcome back. we are waiting for that news conference, which should be starting very soon in the highland park, illinois, the community shattered when a shooter opened fire on a parade yesterday from a sniper-like position up on a rooftop with a high-powered rifle, purchased legally, we are told. a little more than a week since the president signed off on the first bipartisan gun legislation in decades, that compromise

legislation. with us now live from the white house, nbc's mike memoli. mike, talk to me about what the president is likely to do about this. we know that he wanted more action than he got in that compromise, the bipartisan bill. what can he really say? >> reporter: andrea, if you remember the president when he delivered that nearly primetime address about a month ago, he laid out a range of actions that he wanted the congress to take. he said ultimately, there were legislation is what is needed here. we did see him sign into law that bipartisan compromise, which i think represents in this view -- the view of the white house, the most we are likely to see out of this congress at this stage. there's clearly more to be done. one question the president was asked, would he travel to illinois himself. he did not answer that question. the white house has indicated that's not likely. >> thanks to you, mike memoli. as we await the news conference, back with us is shaq brewster,

ken dilanian, ben collins. ken, legally there's little that can be done. we are told the federal government is not expecting to file federal charges on hate crimes. we believe they are approaching the microphone now. >> i'm the spokesman for the major crime task force. this morning we will provide you with updates about where the investigation has led, where he with are at and where we will move forward. over the past 24 hours, there's been a significant amount of information obtained by investigators. this consists of the hard work by highland park police, the major crime task force, state police, atf and fbi. everybody has been collaborating very well to further this investigation. the community has been absolutely terrific as it comes to reporting information that they have, things they may have witnessed, may have seen, turning over video that has really helped us further the

investigation and aid investigators. one point i want to clarify is robert crimo, iii, he will be 22 in september. he is a resident of highwood. throughout the past 24 hours, investigators have spoken with numerous witnesses, some of the survivors. they have had the opportunity to review numerous video clips, both from cell phone recordings and conducted other follow-up investigations. at this point in the investigation -- some is still preliminary so subject to change as we move forward. but we believe crimo pre-planned this attack for several weeks. he brought a high-powered rifle to this parade. he accessed the roof of a business via a fire escape ladder and began opening fire on the innocent independence day celebration goers. the rifle was purchased in

illinois. the information we have thus far is that it appears to have been purchased legally by crimo. during the attack, crimo was dressed in women's clothing. 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. during the attack, we believe crimo fired more than 70 rounds from the rifle into the crowd of innocent people. following the attack, crimo exited the roof. he dropped his rifle and he blended in with the crowd and he escaped. he walked to his mother's home, who lived in the area. he blended right in with everybody else as they were running around almost as he was an innocent spectator as well. he borrowed his mother's vehicle. we issued an alert yesterday afternoon. the chief provided the vehicle information and crimo's information. we are thankful an alert member of the community saw crimo's

vehicle traveling southbound on route 41, dialed 911 and alerted north chicago police officers. they spotted the vehicle, waited for backup units to arrive. conducted a traffic stop. they were able to safely april apprehend him. inside the vehicle, there was a second rifle. thus far, over 30 people were injured during the attack. this does not include the six who lost their lives. right now, crimo is in custody. there are no indications that there was anybody else involved in this attack. by all indications, it appears crimo was acting by himself. the state attorney's office has been with us from the ground level. they are with us this morning. we continue to review the information. investigators are still developing leads and very critical information. once we are at a point where we are ready to review that information for charges, we will

sit down with the state's attorney and review for criminal charges. i'm going to turn this over to the mayor. i will be back to answer questions. mayor? >> thank you. today is a day of grieving together. a day to pause. a day to remember those who left us. those who were injured. and for strength for our community. several vigil and prayer services are taking place today, both inside and beyond highland park. they are as follows. the community church of lake bluff, 117 east scranton avenue, lake bluff, will hold a prayer service today at noon. the service will include prayer and music at christ church on the corner of route 60 and wakegan avenue. trinity grace church and christ church has organized a community prayer gathering at 3:00 p.m. at trinity grace church, 1506 halfday road, highland park. everyone is welcome.

highland presbyterian and other leaders will hold an ecumenical community prayer vigil at 7:00 p.m. at the highland park presbyterian church, 330 laurel avenue, highland park, all are. >> larry:. today, the high school located at 433 vine avenue in conjunction with community partners is hosting crisis counseling until 2:00 p.m. and is open to everyone. no appointments are necessary. additionally, a family assistance center will open tomorrow, july 6, at noon to provide support services and crisis assistance to those who were directly impacted at the parade. the location and hours of operations are pending. we will get that information to the community as soon as we have it. please go to the website for nor information. the highland park police department, american red cross and fbi victim services response team are assisting with

additional partners. the teams will engage with victims and families to assess their needs and provide crisis intervention and other forms of emergency assistance. anyone who was a victim and is in need of support can call 800-call-fbi. i know what a generous community we are a part of. we are overwhelmed with the amount of support offered not only from those in highland park but the surrounding region and throughout the nation. thank you. for those who are looking to donate to victims and in support of the community, we ask you be mindful of potential scams on go fund me and other avenues. this afternoon, we will share additional information on the website regarding how donate to the victims, survivors and those who support the community. for all who reached out with offers of equipment, food and professional services, we thank u. thank you for coming out today. i will turn the mike back to the deputy chief.

>> any questions? [ inaudible ] >> at this point, we have not developed a motive from him. investigators are very much furthering the investigation. they have been in discussions with him. i don't have anything to say about motivation thus far because it hasn't been provided. >> we have seen disturbing videos online. were warning signs missed? >> the question was, disturbing videos online. we are reviewing those. those are part of any investigation by our task force investigators. we will look at them and see what they reveal. >> where in illinois did he purchase the weapons? when he went to his mother's house, did he tell her what he had done? was she unaware? >> the question was, where did he purchase the weapons and did

he tell his mother what he had done. he purchased the weapons locally. within the region. the chicagoland area. when he went to his mother's, we have no indication he provided information to her. >> can you give us an idea, how many weapons did he purchase? when was that? >> he was in possession of firearm the day of, the rifle. he was in possession of another rifle in his vehicle when he was pulled over by police. he also had other firearms that were recovered from a residence that he was living in. >> his name? >> they were in his name? >> legally purchased? >> they were legally purchased. >> his level of disguise, how did you identify him? do you have an idea when he placed himself on the roof? >> we are working on the time line. we don't want to come out with inaccurate information on timing. one of the asks is members of the community, if you have video

of this individual that is walking toward the parade, at the parade, potentially on the roof or exiting, to please call 1-800-call-fbi. as far as the disguise, he wore that in an attempt to conceal himself. >> do you have pictures you can offer, what he looked like? >> i will look into that. >> considering the extensive digital trail, the disturbing videos, was he known to law enforcement before? if not, why not? >> i can't get into that right now. there have been some law enforcement contacts. nothing of a violent nature. i can't get into the specifics. >> how many rifles -- our colleagues reporting he purchased multiple weapons. can you give us details? >> i know of the two rifles and i know that were potentially pistols he had owned as well. >> has he made any statements to investigators? does he have an attorney?

>> i'm not going to go into what he may or may not have said. the investigation is still moving forward. i will provide that information later on. >> do you have evidence he targeted anyone specific or shooting random? >> shooting apeers to be completely random. >> did he choose it because of the high population of jewish people? people are concerned it was anti-semitic. >> we have no information to suggest at this point it was racially motivated. motivated by religion or any protected status. >> with all the individual joys appear -- >> i believe in place is an assault rifle ban in highland park, is that correct? >> i don't have information on that right now. we will get back to you on specifics. >> with all the videos of crimo prior to this, did anyone call highland park police or tip off authorities that these were online? >> no. we were not made aware of these videos. >> how did you identify him as a suspect? through video or tracing the gun? >> the atf was phenomenal

yesterday. they expedited a trace of the firearm. that was a major lead for us. in addition to that, the witness statements, videos that we obtained from people that turned them in and the businesses, they all helped us tremendously. >> can you break down the number of injuries, not the deceased? can you then further break down how many of those were gunshot victims and how many were not gunshot victims? >> the information i have right now is that all of those that were transported to the hospital or drove themselves to the hospital were injured by gunfire. over 30 injured by the gunfire. they went to the three hospitals we mentioned yesterday. >> if he was dressed as a woman, how were you able to identify so early on that you were looking for a male and the age range? >> he was identified by a number of -- there were police officers who were able to recognize his photo once it was revealed. that helped. >> can you help us to understand, when you say you

know he was dressed as a woman during the shooting, is that based off photographic evidence or what eyewitnesses have said? also, can you tell us what type of weapon was used in the shooting? >> it was a high-powered rifle that was used. shot high velocity rounds. >> was it ar-15? >> similar. it was similar to an ar-15. as far as identifying him with the -- he was seen on video camera in the woman's clothes. video camera played tremendous role in how we were able to identify him both leaving initially and as he left. >> were the guns bought at the -- >> different and bought at separate locations. >> did he have a wig on? it was reported that it was -- >> i'm not sure what the woman's attire consisted of. initially, it was reported this person had long hair. a wig isn't out of the question. >> can you tell us about the business where he was? how did he get there?

can you tell us about the business where he was? which roof? how did he get in? >> it was a local business right in that vicinity. i'm not sure the name. he was able to access the roof through a ladder that's affixed to the side of the building. we will take three more. >> the clothing, did he dump it or did he have it on him? >> we talked with teachers who he was with in elementary school that have contacted his parents several times saying there were issues with him as a teen and a young child growing up. what type of cooperation have you had? >> one of the things that is important to remember here is the diligence in investigation. we will reach out to everybody we can that has information. firsthand information about him. whether that's family members, teachers, friends. whoever it is that has information. it does take time. it takes time to gather who may know him, who knew him in the past, teachers. that's something that the task force investigators working on. they have interviewed people. we are 24 hours in. there's a lot of work to be done

here. we're not done. i don't want to get into levels of cooperation. >> were the weapons modified? >> no indication they were modified. >> have any children passed? >> no children passed away. [ inaudible ] >> i'm not sure what address he gave. i can get back to you. we will be back this afternoon about 3:00. we will have an updated status on charges. he will remain in custody. >> there you heard it from the deputy chief. they will be back in the 3:00 hour. shaq brewster in highland park is with us, nbc's ben collins, nbc's ken dilanian. let me recap what i heard. he is 21, as we know. he will be 22 in september. he is a resident of highwood. he was dressed in women's cloenling to disguise his identity so he could blend in with the crowd. he left the rifle on the

rooftop. accessed that through a fire escape ladder. he purchased the rifle legally. had another rifle in his car and had other weapons as well. borrowed his mother's vehicle. his mother lives in the area, in the highland park area. went to his mother's, walked to his mother's and borrowed her car. they don't know or would not say whether the mother was aware of what he had done, did not think so. he was apprehended without injuries to any police officers. more than 30 people were injured, not including, of course, the six who are dead. necessary custody. no indication anyone else was involved in the attack. appears to be acting by himself. there had been, ken, previous law enforcement contact. some police had identified him from knowing him from photos. the previous contacts with law enforcement in the area were not violent.

in other words, he had come to their attention before. >> exactly. that's exactly the thing we will want to know a lot more about. the deputy chief did say that they were not aware of any of the violent postings that he had made on various social media channels. he said that there was evidence that crimo pre-planned the attack for several weeks. he said he fired 70 rounds. 30 people have been injured. the high-powered rifle is similar to an ar-15. that's a military style assault weapon. >> earlier, jim kavanaugh said it could have been an ar-15. >> they mentioned police identified him by looking at his image in a photo. it suggests a good deal of familiarity with this person. it's not surprising. it's a small town. he had facial tattoos. he was known for riding around on a scooter and blasting loud

music. he was known to police in some fashion. >> ben, let's talk about the fact that they were not aware of these violent videos. >> that's a little surprising. as ken said, this guy was a known entity in community. these videos couldn't be any more violent. they were depictions of school shootings, depictions of him in a shootout with the police. the cartoon that was created for his most recent music video featured him with a long gun like the one he used allegedly for this shooting. it's surprising to me that this person was not a known entity in these spaces. it's very difficult to -- the internet is a vast and wide place. i'm sure that some people didn't even know this guy was making these violent videos was located in highland park, illinois.

>> shaq brewster, when you are talking to people there, we heard from the mayor that there are prayer services in churches, i believe in the synagogue later tonight. someone else may have mentioned that. the mayor said there's a prayer service at noon. that's 15 minutes away. they are on central time. a number of churches. there's counseling available until 2:00 local time. for anyone who wants to come in in the high school. the community is trying to come together as best they can. >> reporter: that's for sure. they are paying attention. we saw members of the community who have been gathering around, who have gone to take pictures of the street. we are a block away from where it occurred. they were listening. they were paying attention. i saw one woman watching the press conference on her phone, reacting as she was listening to what she heard. one thing that -- one piece of information that we got, it pieced together what we saw yesterday. we saw three different crime

scenes, three different scenes where you saw lots of law enforcement presence. one being the scene behind me. the other being this person of interest, his home, his childhood home. the third being where he was arrested, about 15 minutes away from where i stand right now. we got explanations for why there was so much activity at his home. six mirn minutes ago the chief g he w disguisedn s clothing. he took advantage of the chaotic situation after the shooting and was able to walk back to his home and took his mother's vehicle. we know that they eventually found him with the traffic stop, as a result of a traffic stop and a brief pursuit, about 15 minutes from where we are. many members of the community are paying attention to what we heard from law enforcement. they are grieving. there was a group that came up here and stood there crying, saying that this is our corner. this is our street i pass by every single day. seemingly in disbelief what they

are seeing. this street, i know it's more than 24 hours since this shooting took place, it's still littered with chairs, blankets, bicycles. a reminder of the frantic situation after the shooting and the trauma for many people involved. i want to give you one update that we just got from a local hospital. there's one pediatric patient that was transferred to the university of chicago medical center's children's hospital. one pediatric patient. the hospital is saying that child is in critical but stable condition. we did hear from the chief there that no children were victims. none of the six people who were killed were children. we do know there's one child in the hospital in that critical but stable condition. >> we heard the deputy chief saying that all of the 30 injured were from gunshot

wounds. no other accident rushing or stampeding away from the terrible situation. it was all from the gunshots. more than 70 rounds is what the deputy chief said. i'm fascinated by the fact that dressed in women's clothing to blend in with the crowd. left the rifle there. which is unusual in these instances. he had another one in his car we discover. in his mother's car, in the getaway car. he walked in the crowd of people leaving the parade after that horror, walked to his mother's house and borrowed her car. we don't know what kind of interactions there were there. we don't know anything further about, ken, the possible charges that might be levelled against him. they are all, as we understand it from tom winter, they are all going to be state charges, state and local charges. the local assault weapon ban. >> right. they found no evidence of a potential hate crime.

no bias evidence so far. that would be the federal interest in this. you are describing a bizarre scenario. he thought it through enough to put on a disguise, to try to escape. he dropped a gun that had been legally purchased in his own name, the key piece of evidence the atf traced to him. atf trac. it suggests a person living in a fantasy world if he thought he would escape scotch free. >> on the internet with the videos and his online raps. correct? >> yeah. it wouldn't shock me if he thought he would get away with it. what's surprising is a lot of his videography showed him dying in a shootout and what we learned flies in the face of

that actively trying to get away with this. he had a litany of facial and neck tattoos and to use a disguise over that to go home and try to get away effectively flies in the face of the image he was trying to put out there that he was ready to die for that. he was communicating with them apparently, at least according to what the deputy chief said. he's talking. we don't know if he has a lawyer or has pleaded the fifth or whatever. >> i think you're right and we can infer the deputy chief wouldn't say anything about the content of the conversations but he is talking and important trying to suss out motive because there are a lot of blank spaces. the videos tell us a story but not everything and planning this

for weeks who else knew? where were the people around him he bought the weapons, had violent postings. who might have reported it but didn't? >> they announced a 3:00 news conference. 4:00 for them in central time in illinois. we'll be covering this throughout the day and days to come and weeks to come because this is going to be with buffalo and sandy spring and uvalde and las vegas. this is a pattern, horrible pat pattern in america. we will talk about brittney griner alone inside a russian prison. the superstar of the wnba pleading to president biden for

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wnba superstar brittney griner a two-time olympic gold medalist is pleading with president biden to intervene in the case and bring her home. in the letter delivered to the white house she writes in part as i sit here in a russian prison alone with my thoughts and without the protection of my wife, family, friends, i'm terrified i might be here forever. she adds i realize you are dealing with so much but please don't forget at me and the other american detainees. >> i think the decision for her to feel the need to directly

reach out to president biden is because of the failed attempts as a family. she is there and she knows that we are doing everything we can in our own strength to ask to meet with the president and to request that they do everything they can to get her home and it kills me every time that i have to write her and she is asking have you met with him yet? i have to say no. >> she could face up to ten years in prison if convicted and 99% of the people in russian -- on trial in russia are convicteded. she is in detention for 4 1/2 months. joining me now is former u.s. ambassador to russia michael mcfaul. you had to deal with these situations. the u.s. considers her a hostage now wrongfully detained with paul whelan.

trevor reed did get out in a prisoner exchange and his family said they have to go to the president. russia wants victor boot, an arms dealer in the u.s. >> first, it is horrible to read that letter and must be awful to be in that prison. there's no rule in law of russia so don't expect to go there and treated with rule of law. everybody needs to know that before traveling in putin's russia today. you cited i think the only way that she will get out is through a swap. you are right. we traded for trevor reed. that was a very difficult decision to make but they did the swap and if you listen to the russia news reporting that's what they want. they want victor boot who's been

in jail for 20 years. i dealt with conversations about him when i was ambassador. they want him out of jail. i would say to my american colleagues this is not setting a precedent or a terrorist organization. this is a government and consider the swap not just brittney griner but paul when he lane and mark fogel. >> what is so special about victor boot to vladimir putin or the kremlin? why is he so desirable to get out? >> to us he is a criminal and indicted and in jail rightly so for things he did. to putin he worked for those guys. he helped them. running weapons. running drug deals around the world and considered one of them. i can't say that for certain but considered one of them and never

want to leave one of theirs on the battlefield. it is a personal thing that mr. putin is quite focused on. >> ambassador mcfaul, you have that experience yourself. would you recommend just very briefly in about 20 seconds that the president come up with a trade? >> yes. these are hard calls. i don't know all the details but compared to what? ten years of boot in jail versus three americans? i would take that trade. >> thank you so much. tomorrow i'll speak with brittney griner's coach about this horrible case. chris jansing reports live from highland park, illinois, starting right now. ♪♪

good afternoon. live in highland park, illinois, we just received stunning new information about the man believed to be behind the deadly shooting at yesterday's parade. now according to police they believe robert primo the man arrested miles from the scene preplanned the attack for weeks. he is suspected of taking a high power rifle to the roof and firing 70 rounds at random apparently. [ gun fire ] >> here's what we always just learned. once done firing primo put on a disguise to escape the scene. here's what police said about that. >> during the the