Chicago’s ‘Are Mommy and Daddy coming?’ The grandfather of 2 1/2-year-old Aiden McCarthy, who was found wandering alone after the Highland Park Independence Day Parade massacre, tells the Tribune the boy doesn’t understand that both his parents were killed.
■ His father died shielding him from the gunfire.
■ A GoFundMe campaign on his behalf had, as of Chicago Public Square’s email deadline, raised more than $2 million.
■ That’s just one of many such efforts underway.
■ The dead named so far range in age from 35 to 88.
‘Look at my face and tell me we don’t need gun control.’ One of those wounded in the attack, 18-year-old Lilli Martini, explains why, “just hours after the shooting, I posted a photo of my bloody face on Twitter.”
■ Columnist Irv Leavitt warns readers before sharing a graphic photo showing “what Highland Park really looked like.”
■ A college student and lifelong Highland Park resident who survived: “When we were choosing where to sit, we had no idea that our choice would determine whether we lived or died.”
■ A 30-year-old who was there: “I am never going to not have experienced it.”
■ As the shootings’ repercussions spread—including day camp and park district programs canceled—the Trib offers tips for talking to kids about what happened Monday.
‘We have to take this stuff seriously, as seriously as you are, because you have been forced to take this seriously.’ That was Vice President Kamala Harris yesterday, speaking at the shooting scene …
■ … in remarks that drew mockery.
■ Complaining of President Biden’s “flat” response to Highland Park’s trauma, some Democrats are demanding the president “be absolutely furious” about gun crimes.
■ Gov. Pritzker’s fervent words on the assault are fueling talk of a presidential run.
7 counts of murder. That’s just the beginning of charges facing the alleged gunman in the attack.
■ He was too young for a gun permit in 2019, but his dad sponsored him for one anyway …
■ … allowing him to buy five weapons—one of which police say was used on the Fourth.
■ The weapon’s apparently legal purchase underscores the inadequacy of Illinois’ regulations.
■ Police say the suspect planned the attack for weeks and dressed in women’s clothing to conceal his identity in the crowd.
■ A Jewish security group says he tried to crash a synagogue in April.
■ The Daily Beast: His red flags had red flags.
■ Highland Park’s mayor says she was his Cub Scout leader.
‘Nothing feels safe.’ The Washington Post reports that the drumbeat of mass shootings across the country has left Americans quick to panic.
■ Chicago’s holiday weekend toll: At least 68 shot, eight killed.
■ Sun-Times columnist Neil Steinberg says the world would be very different “if only Americans applied their vaunted right-to-life philosophy to guns.”
■ The Onion: “Poll Finds Americans Would Endure At Least 150 Million Dead In Exchange For Cheaper Burrito Bowls.”
‘Gonna get your wife, gonna get your kids.’ Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger—one of just two Republicans on the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection—has released a supercut of hateful voicemail messages to his office.
■ Posting the audio to Twitter, he observed that “the darkness has reached new lows.”
Brookfield Zoo scare. Visitors spent more than two hours in lockdown late yesterday after a threatening call …
■ … to a crisis intervention line from a woman warning of “harm to herself and guests.”
‘I have wondered whether informing her that I am hugging her to help with her development is undercutting the impact of the hugs. Sometimes, I simply hug her without delineating why.’ Washington Post satirist Alexandra Petri recaps her first four months of motherhood.
■ Advocates for the U.S. foster care network tell Axios the end of abortion rights in many states could overwhelm the system of placing kids whose parents can’t keep them or care for them.
■ BuzzFeed News: Abortion bans may yet be unconstitutional in conservative states where courts have concluded that privacy is a right.
Cover story. Mayor Lightfoot is pondering the possibility of doming Soldier Field to keep the Bears from skipping town.
■ A mayoral committee is reportedly on board.
Joe Hass made this edition better.
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