US shooting: Suspect charged with 7 counts of 1st degree murder in July 4 parade shooting in Chicago

The man accused of opening fire with a rifle from a rooftop onto a crowd of people watching a July Fourth parade near Chicago, turning the holiday celebration into another national tragedy, was charged on Tuesday with seven counts of first-degree murder.

If convicted, the suspect, 21-year-old Robert E Crimo III, would face a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole, Illinois state attorney Eric Reinhart said in announcing the charges at a news conference.

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Reinhart said the first-degree murder charges would be followed by dozens of additional charges before the investigation is over. The prosecutor said he would ask that Crimo remain held in custody without bail at the suspect's first court appearance, scheduled for Wednesday.

Authorities said Crimo had planned the attack for weeks and had come to authorities' attention at least twice before on reports that he threatened suicide or harm to others, local officials said on Tuesday.

Authorities said the suspect fired more than 70 rounds from a rooftop at random onto people watching Monday's parade in Highland Park, Illinois, and then made his getaway dressed in a disguise to blend in with the panic-stricken crowd, authorities said on Tuesday.

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In addition to the seven people killed in the gunfire, the attack sent more than three dozen other people to area hospitals for treatment of gunshot wounds and other injuries, authorities said.

After fleeing the scene, the suspect drove to Wisconsin and back to Illinois before he was pulled over and arrested later on Monday, according to Sergeant Chris Covelli, a spokesperson for the Lake County Sheriff's office.

At a late-afternoon news briefing on Tuesday, Covelli cited two previous encounters between Crimo and law enforcement - an April 2019 emergency-911 call reporting he had attempted suicide and another in September of that year regarding alleged threats he had directed at family members.

The shooting took place in a neighborhood with a large Jewish population, but police had no evidence of any anti-Semitic or racist basis. Investigators were reviewing videos he had made filled with violent imagery.