‘It’s just a somber place to be right now,’ one church member says of Chicago’s North Shore, where the attack occurred.
By Bobby Ross Jr. | The Christian Chronicle
HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. — On a lazy Fourth of July morning, Nicole Estes and her husband, Steve, decided to make a quick trip to Home Depot.
Before they could pull out of their subdivision on Chicago’s North Shore, they heard the sirens.
“Police were just flying by, and it was police from different communities,” said Nicole Estes, whose family attends the Northwest Church of Christ in Chicago.
The couple knew something major had happened. Perhaps a drowning at nearby Lake Michigan, one of them speculated.
“I hope it’s not a mass shooter,” Steve Estes, an executive with Reynolds Consumer Products, told his wife.
Unfortunately, his fear proved true.
Yet another American community — this time an affluent suburb about 25 miles north of Chicago — fell victim to a mass shooting.
A gunman with a semi-automatic rifle unleashed more than 80 rounds from a rooftop perch, killing seven people and wounding dozens more at Highland Park’s Fourth of July parade. Authorities have charged 21-year-old Robert “Bobby” Crimo III with seven counts of first-degree murder.“We’re in Highland Park often to eat,” said Nicole Estes, who lives a few miles away in Lake Forest, the community where Crimo was arrested hours after Monday’s shooting. “The little downtown area has the quaintest little shops, and it’s a sweet little town.”
This story appears in the online edition of The Christian Chronicle.
Featured photo by Audrey Jackson
The Ross News 