Chicago’s ‘Person of interest.’ The Daily Beast examines “the sick posts” that constitute the online presence of a man arrested in connection with the horrific shooting spree that left at least six dead and 30 hurt at Highland Park’s 4th of July parade.
■ As a rapper, he posted a video—since removed from Vimeo but viewed by Chicago Public Square and caught in this screenshot—that features him saying, “I need to just do it. It is my destiny” …
■ … and that spotlights a symbol evoking a far-right Finnish organization opposed to multiculturalism.
■ His father ran a nearby deli for five years …
■ His father ran a nearby deli for five years …
■ … and campaigned unsuccessfully (2019 link) against Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering …
■ … who’s long led the city in a fight for gun control. (Screenshot: Google Maps on Monday afternoon.)
■ Rotering says the gun in this crime was obtained legally.
‘41 shots in 17 seconds.’ That’s columnist Eric Zorn’s count of the mayhem caught on this video of the massacre.
■ Witnesses recount the horror: “It was a scene from a nightmare.”
■ Sun-Times reporter Lynn Sweet, who was there when it happened: “I came upon a pool of blood. … The shape of the blood—was this a twisted Rorschach test?—looked like a handgun to me.”
■ WTTW news director Jay Smith was a block-and-a-half away: “We stood in stunned silence as terrified people ran by and children wept.”
■ One man tells the Sun-Times, “I … ran into an alley and put my son in a garbage dumpster so he could be safe.”
■ Tribune photographer Brian Cassella conveys the day’s dismay.
The victims. The dead include a synagogue teacher and a grandfather from Mexico visiting his family.
■ Among the wounded: A Chicago Public School teacher, her husband, her father and her brother-in-law—shot in front of her two young children, who were not hit.
■ A doctor who was there describes “wartime injuries” and his wife tells CNN, “I’m not going to a parade anymore. I’m not going to a sporting event.”
■ Last night’s White Sox went on—with no postgame fireworks …
■ … but their pitcher Liam Hendricks delivered an angry case for gun control: “It’s getting to the point where civilization as you know it might be ending. … Something needs to happen, and it needs to happen quick.”
■ The federal government’s assembled a list of resources to help people cope after mass shootings.
‘Bailey did later apologize for being a heartless asshat.’ Columnist Neil Steinberg reflects on “guns first, people second” Republican gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey’s call—with the killer still on the loose—for the nation to “move on and … celebrate the independence of this nation.”
■ The National Rifle Association was as tone-deaf as ever.
■ Speaking late yesterday afternoon, Gov. Pritzker railed against gun violence: “If you’re angry today, I’m here today to tell you to be angry.”
■ The Onion—again: “‘No Way To Prevent This,’ Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens.”
Waterworld. Flooding in Australia’s largest city threatens to displace 50,000 people …
■ … amid warnings the nation is under-prepared for climate disasters.
‘Every day we get new people.’ Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger says more witnesses are crawling out of the woodwork to testify in Congress’ investigation of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.
■ Politico has a two-minute trailer for filmmaker Alex Holder’s documentary about the Trump family—providing “the first glimpse of the breadth of Holder’s access” in the hours of footage he’s given the House committee.
■ See it here.
‘Months too late.’ Columnist Matthew Yglesias says the U.S. needs more urgency in its COVID-19 vaccine approval process.
■ Poynter’s Al Tompkins is befuddled: “What exactly is the current national COVID-19 response plan?”
CTA flashback. Marking its 75th anniversary, the Chicago Transit Authority is wrapping some of its train cars to reflect classic designs from the ’50s, ’60s, ’70s and ’80s.
■ A University of Dayton business analytics professor: Stop driving farther for gas bargains.
What you missed. News developments that may have escaped your notice if you didn’t follow Chicago Public Square on Facebook through the long weekend include …
■ “A first for any primary in Cook County’s history”: Bar association ratings were the single biggest influence in last week’s judicial elections.
■ Facebook is paying out more cash—this time to users who, between April 22, 2010, and September 26, 2011, visited non-Facebook websites that displayed the Facebook Like button.
■ Columnist Lyz Lenz’s Dingus of the Week: The “We Will Adopt Your Baby” people.
■ Chicago media watchdog Robert Feder declared: “After 42 years … I’m stepping away from the beat.”
Chicago Public Square will keep an eye on the media landscape. You can help by buying—and wearing!—a T-shirt, like the one sported here by occasional contributor Angela Mullins.
■ Chris Koenig made this edition better.