THE BULLETIN • WEDNESDAY, JULY 6, 2022 A13
Fourth of July parade shooting
Suspect bought 5 weapons despite threats
BY MICHAEL TARM, KATHLEEN FOODY
AND STEPHEN GROVES
Associated Press
HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. — A man
charged Tuesday with seven counts
of murder after firing off more than
70 rounds at an Independence Day
parade in suburban Chicago legally
bought five weapons, including
the high-powered rifle used in the
shooting, despite authorities being
called to his home twice in 2019 for
threats of violence and suicide, po-
lice said.
Lake County State’s Attorney Eric
Rinehart said the suspect, if con-
victed of the first-degree murder
charges, would receive a mandatory
life sentence without the possibility
of parole. He promised that dozens
more charges would be sought.
Christopher Covelli, a spokes-
man for the Lake County Major
Crime Task Force said the suspected
shooter, who was arrested late Mon-
day, used a rifle “similar to an AR-15”
to spray more than 70 rounds from
atop a commercial building into a
Politics
Continued from A1
The Times parachuted back
into Oregon late last month
and issued a report June 28
once again forecasting the
possible end to the Democrats’
victory streak that goes back
to 1986.
President Joe Biden’s pop-
ularity was falling as infla-
tion drove up the costs of gas,
food and other necessities. A
three-way race to succeed the
outgoing governor was ratch-
eting up against a backdrop of
U.S. Supreme Court rulings
on abortion, guns and the en-
vironment that drove multi-
ple wedges into the electorate.
The report’s bottom line: the
only political certainty was
uncertainty.
In what could be a “wave
year” for Republicans, the
Times said “even deep-blue
Oregon is suddenly compet-
crowd that had gathered for the pa-
rade in Highland Park, an affluent
community of about 30,000 on the
Lake Michigan shore.
A seventh victim died of her or his
injuries Tuesday. More than three
dozen other people were wounded in
the attack, which Covelli said the sus-
pect had planned for several weeks.
The assault happened less than
three years after police went to the
suspect’s home following a call from
a family member who said he was
threatening “to kill everyone” there.
Covelli said police confiscated 16
knives, a dagger and a sword, but said
there was no sign he had any guns at
the time, in September 2019.
Police in April 2019 also re-
sponded to a reported suicide at-
tempt by the suspect, Covelli said.
The suspect legally purchased
the rifle used in the attack in Illinois
within the past year, Covelli said. In
all, police said, he purchased five fire-
arms, which were recovered by offi-
cers at his father’s home.
The revelation about his gun pur-
itive.”
Citing “Biden, crime, gas
prices,” New York Times re-
porter Reid J. Epstein wrote
“almost nobody in Oregon
seems to be happy.”
The combination would
give Republican nominee
Christine Drazan or unaffil-
iated candidate Betsy John-
son an opening to win a plu-
rality, upsetting Democratic
front-runner Tina Kotek
Kotek and other Democrats
said the decision would galva-
nize voters to get to the polls
and ensure Democratic victo-
ries in November.
Congress: Flipping the 5th
The other top target of spec-
ulation is the 5th Congressio-
nal District.
Well before the May 17 pri-
mary, many political forecast-
ers in Washington, D.C., were
saying a primary upset of U.S.
Rep. Kurt Schrader, D-Canby,
Brooke and Matt Strauss, who were
married Sunday, pause after leaving
their wedding bouquets Tuesday in
downtown Highland Park, Illinois, near
the scene of Monday’s mass shooting.
Charles Rex Arbogast/AP
chases is just the latest example of
young me who were able to obtain
guns and carry out massacres in re-
cent months despite glaring warning
signs about their mental health and
inclination to violence.
Illinois state police, the agency that
issues issue gun owners’ licenses, said
the gunman applied for a license in
could open the door for Re-
publicans to flip the district in
the fall.
Terrebonne attorney Jamie
McLeod-Skinner rode a wave
of progressive dissatisfaction
with the centrist Schrader
to oust him in the primary.
She’ll face the Republican for-
mer mayor of Happy Valley,
Lori Chavez-DeRemer, on
Nov. 8.
With Schrader out, it’s es-
sentially an open seat, one of
three in Oregon this year. In
closed primaries, the Demo-
cratic primary was won by a
candidate more liberal than
the incumbent, while Republi-
cans chose as their nominee a
conservative with ties to allies
of former President Donald
Trump.
With Democrats getting hit
with blame for rising inflation,
forecasters see an opening for
Republicans.
FiveThirtyEight, the po-
December 2019, when he was 19. His
father sponsored his application.
At the time “there was insufficient
basis to establish a clear and present
danger” and deny the application,
state police said in a statement.
Investigators who have interro-
gated the suspect and reviewed his
social media posts have not deter-
mined a motive or found any indica-
tion that he targeted victims by race,
religion or other protected status,
Covelli said.
Earlier in the day, FBI agents
peeked into trash cans and under
picnic blankets as they searched for
more evidence at the scene. The shots
were initially mistaken for fireworks
before hundreds of revelers ran in
terror.
A day later, baby strollers, lawn
litical website run by veteran
forecaster Nate Silver, issued
a report showing Chavez-
DeRemer with a 73% chance
of defeating McLeod-Skinner.
Silver’s website noted a
survey by PPPolls for 314Ac-
tion, a group advocating the
election of candidates who
support scientific solutions
to issues. The group has en-
dorsed McLeod-Skinner, but
the poll it paid for showed
Chavez-DeRemer leading
McLeod-Skinner 42%-41%,
with 17% undecided. PPPolls
gets an A- rating in Silver’s
grading of the reliability and
level of partisan control over
results.
The Hill, a public policy
publication in Washington,
D.C., on Tuesday tapped Or-
egon’s 5th District as one of
“seven close races that could
decide control of the House.”
Two other top political tea-leaf
readers — Cook Political Re-
chairs and other items left behind by
panicked paradegoers remained in-
side a wide police perimeter. Outside
the police tape, some residents drove
up to collect blankets and chairs they
abandoned.
David Shapiro, 47, said the gun-
fire quickly turned the parade into
“chaos.”
“People didn’t know right away
where the gunfire was coming from,
whether the gunman was in front
or behind you chasing you,” he said
Tuesday as he retrieved a stroller and
lawn chairs.
The gunman initially evaded cap-
ture by dressing as a woman and
blending into the fleeing crowd, Cov-
elli said.
The shooting was just the latest to
shatter the rituals of American life.
Schools, churches, grocery stores
and now community parades have
all become killing grounds in recent
months. This time, the bloodshed
came as the nation tried to celebrate
its founding and the bonds that still
hold it together.
port and the Center for Pol-
itics at the University of Vir-
ginia — also have the seat as a
toss-up at this early juncture.
Just as in the governor’s
race, Democrats say Republi-
cans’ opposition to abortion
and gun control could moti-
vate suburban centrist voters
to return to the Democratic
camp.
Midnight money madness
Midnight Thursday was the
end of the quarter for congres-
sional fundraising. As the last
hours approached, candidates
from both parties sent out
mass emails asking support-
ers to make electronic contri-
butions before the witching
hour, so they can be counted
when records are released this
month.
“Kevin McCarthy, Alek
Skarlatos, and their radical
right-wing cronies are making
a big play to flip this district
and steal the House majority,”
wrote Val Hoyle, the Demo-
cratic candidate for Oregon’s
4th Congressional District just
before 6 p.m. Thursday.
McCarthy is the House Re-
publican Leader, and Skarla-
tos is the GOP nominee in the
4th District. In Republican
e-mails, the bold name tar-
gets are President Biden and
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi,
D-Calif.
Races for the U.S. House
and U.S. Senate operate under
rules of the Federal Elections
Commission. It currently
requires candidates to file
quarterly statements on fund-
raising and spending. That
means reports will be issued
this month and in October
for the July 1-Sept. 30 period.
On Oct. 19 — 20 days before
the Nov. 8 election — contri-
butions have to be reported
within 48 hours.
█
gwarner@eomediagroup.com
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