Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Six Killed, 31 Injured, Suspect At Large After Illinois Parade Shooting; Interview With Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL); Cities Nationwide Prepare For July 4th Celebration As They Learn Of Illinois Parade Shooting. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired July 04, 2022 - 14:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[14:30:00]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: Congressman, there's no community where one would expect that this would happen. But the community you describe, Highland Park, why would someone target this community, this parade?

REP. BRAD SCHNEIDER (D-IL) (via telephone): I can't tell you. What is being said so far, the reports are that it appears to be random.

Why would anyone target any community? And we saw, in Buffalo, a young man drove 300 miles because of white supremacist ideology. Went into a grocery store and killed 10 people.

We saw another young man walk into a school in Uvalde and kill 19 beautiful students and two teachers. We're seeing mass shootings everyday in our communities, random shootings across the country.

I can't tell you why anyone would target our community. We are a country that is founded on the ideals of independence, but mutual respect for differences and different views, perspectives, traditions, faiths.

And tragically, there's just so much division in the country that we're seeing these stories over and over again.

BLACKWELL: We've got a live shot her from the sky of the American flag in the center of a street where a mass shooting, another one in this country has happened, this one on Independence Day.

You see the chairs and the towels and all the elements from people who were there, expecting to have a peaceful afternoon. They had to leave them and run for some safety.

Congressman Brad Schneider with us, of Illinois. Thank you so much for being with us.

Listen, this shooter still at large right now. We will follow the latest developments.

We'll speak to another eyewitness from that parade shooting in Highland Park. That's coming up next. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:36:30]

BLACKWELL: All right, the suspect behind this shooting in Highland Park is still at large this hour.

The latest numbers we have, six dead, more than two dozen injured.

An eyewitness detailed what he heard and saw when the shooting started.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MILES ZAREMSKI, EYEWITNESS (via telephone): There were multiple pops. And having been in the service many decades ago, it was not a handgun or a rifle or something. It was more like an A.R.-15 or whatever. And I would say I heard maybe, and I'm guessing, about 30 pops.

I saw blood on the sidewalk. I saw bloodied bodies that looked deceased. I even saw what looked to be a young child, a boy, being cuddled by his parents.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: With me now on the phone is another eyewitness who was at the parade, Adrienne Drell.

Adrienne, thank you for a few minutes of your time.

I read that you were sitting on Central Avenue when you first noticed that something was wrong. Start from there. What did you see and hear?

ADRIENNE DRELL, WAS AT SCENE OF HIGHLAND PARK SHOOTING (via telephone): I was sitting on the curb on Central Avenue, which was the main route of the parade, which had just gotten under way.

And they had police cars and the lights on, came down the strip. And then it was followed by ambulances, fire trucks. And I remember thinking, gee, what if something happened and they're all in the parade.

And then there were live horses and some vets came by and they were passing out little flags that contained flower seeds with a quote from Emerson about "Peace in the world."

And then the Highland Park High School band came and they were playing a patriotic song.

As they went by me, they suddenly dispersed and they're running. And they're running in the parking lot of a large food store behind me, Sunset FoodS. And I thought, what's going on?

Then someone said, there's a shooter. A gentleman came up and said, you've got to get out of here. And he lifted me up and put me on the ground. And as I'm heading toward the store and to my nearby apartment

building, I see a cop with a dog, going, get out of here, get out of here.

And I had a friend who lives down a block and a half east of me, which is where the alleged shooter was. And apparently, somebody thought he was on top of the building. I'm not sure. They recovered a rifle.

The whole town was in chaos. I had to go somewhere, and I came back and all the streets were barricaded. There are police with rifles standing card. There's police cars are lights on all over the place and helicopters.

It's unreal. It's almost like we're in the Ukraine being bombarded.

It broke the peace here. It was a wonderful celebration of our 246th, I believe, year of existence in the United States, and all we seem to be is surrounded by violence.

BLACKWELL: Well, I can tell you that we've learned from Highland Park police that they believe the shooting did come from a roof. So what you heard there, police have confirmed that the shooting came from a roof.

But it sounds like, from where you were, a block and a half away, you did not hear the shots yourself, correct?

DRELL: I did not hear them. The band was playing too loud. The people around me heard them.

And someone told me it went, bang, bang, bang. Somebody thought it was 30 shots. Must have been a number of shots if they hit so many people.

But everyone is in shock. I'm hearing from all kinds of people.

[14:40:01]

BLACKWELL: Where, after this man lifted you up off the curb, did you go? Did you go into the grocery store? Did you go back to your apartment?

DRELL: No, the parking lot for the grocery store adjoins the street where I was sitting. It was the curb. Everybody is in the lot. And my apartment building is just behind the grocery store.

And all kinds of people were gathering in the building. It was like a refuge.

I had a neighbor who had brought his little white Maltese in a baby buggy and he was standing right across from where the shooting was taking place, a pancake house.

He said it was just terrible and they were very shaken, he and his wife. They came right back. I said, how is the dog? He said, he's deaf, he didn't hear the shooting.

But --

BLACKWELL: I hate to interrupt here, but a couple hours out from this shooting, some of the adrenaline has settled. As you're watching what's happening on these streets you recognize, what's going through your mind?

DRELL: Well, I'm looking out my window now and the main street, Green Bay Road, is totally deserted except for police cars with their lights flashing.

There's a complex across the street with a strip parking mall and all I saw was a policeman with a dog walking there. I don't know if the grocery store is still open. I heard it is.

People are just inside their homes. I'm hearing from a million people, are you OK, are you OK. But it's just mind-boggling.

But I'm not surprised. I mean, I think a lot of people have felt very tense in the last few weeks, in particular, not just for COVID, but because of the shootings in Texas and then the court rulings. We're just feeling very uneasy.

We thought, well, this will be a respite. I felt proud watching the American flag coming down the street with the parade, and then, crash.

(CROSSTALK)

BLACKWELL: There are, unfortunately, a lot of communities that many of us hear about for the first time in this context.

DRELL: Yes.

BLACKWELL: You say that you're not surprised. There's certainly shock because it is in your community. But, unfortunately, as often as these happens across our country, not much surprise.

Adrienne Drell, I'm glad that you are OK, that you're back home. And I thank you for sharing your story with us.

DRELL: OK, thank you.

BLACKWELL: We will have much more on the now hunt for this alleged shooter behind this mass shooting. Six dead, dozens injured, at an Independence Day parade in Highland Park, Illinois.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:47:11]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS O'NEILL, PATROL COMMANDER, HIGHLAND PARK POLICE DEPARTMENT: The suspect is currently described as a male, white, approximately 18 to 20 years old, with longer black hair, a small build, and wearing a white or blue T-shirt.

A firearm has been recovered from the scene.

It does appear he was shooting from a roof. The roof that he was shooting from, I don't have that information right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: All right, we just got that update from police. We're expecting another one. They said every 30 minutes to an hour. That's probably about an hour old now. So we expect to hear from them soon.

Until then, let's go to CNN senior law enforcement analyst, Charles Ramsey.

Chief, we also heard from Highland Park police that they do not believe he has suspects. They do not believe they have a hostage situation on their hands.

If they do not know where this suspect is, what justifies that confidence?

CHARLES RAMSEY, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, you have to be careful when you make comments, because there are a lot of things that you don't know. We certainly hope that's the case.

But you have no idea where this person is or what this person may have done. So you just have to be kind of careful when you put information out.

It's like saying it's not an act of terror. Until you find the person and you know the motive, you don't know.

Obviously, the victims were apparently random, randomly selected. At least that's what it sounds like.

But there's an awful lot that you don't know at this point in time, unless the investigation is a lot further along than we've been led to believe. But I don't think it is.

BLACKWELL: Chief, also they are, of course, searching for the suspect. Before they find where he is, talk to us about what's happening potentially to determine who he is. And maybe that could give them some clues about location.

RAMSEY: Well, they recovered the rifle. And so right now, they're looking at possible fingerprints, DNA, anything that might link an individual to that particular firearm.

There's other evidence, I'm sure, they are collecting right now, trying to determine how they gained access to a roof to begin with. Were there any cameras in the area that might have picked him up?

So there's an awful lot going on right now trying to identify him. Because that's the key thing right now, is find out who this person is so you can get your hands on him as quickly as possible.

They don't know if he was mobile, did he drive to the scene, did he walk there. I mean, there's a lot of information, a lot of gaps that we have right now on this end.

They may have filled those gaps on the investigative end. We don't know.

BLACKWELL: And, of course, we're waiting for an update. They said every 30 minutes to an hour. Of course, that can fluctuate because this is an active situation.

[14:50:03]

Chief Ramsey, stay with us. And we, of course, will get back to you.

Listen, it's a Fourth of July. There are festivities across the country, probably one in your community. We'll talk about how other cities are now beefing up security after this mass shooting in Highland Park. More next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: The city of Evanston, Illinois, has now closed its beaches, cancelled its fireworks show. This is, of course, after the mass shooting at a parade just north in Highland Park today.

Now, across the country cities are bringing back fireworks and other celebrations, of course, after this two-year hiatus from the pandemic.

Natasha Chen is at a beach in California. Miguel Marquez is in New York as the city prepares for its big fireworks show.

Miguel, let's go to your first.

Any security changes, changes in the measures there in light of what happened near Chicago?

[14:55:05]

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Nothing obvious. But certainly not only with police, but also with people who are already gathering here, there's a real sense of sobriety and seriousness, given what's happened in Chicago. That news made its rounds very quickly here.

Look, the events don't get any bigger than in the New York City. The stage is being set, the fireworks on the East River with the New York City skyline behind it.

But just like they do at New Year's or at the Macy's Fay Parade at Thanksgiving, it is a massive security arrangement here.

This is sort of the main road that will remain a secure area. There will be people on both sides of this. The roads here are blocked off for several blocks behind us.

Thousands of police officers not only here but at public areas across the city, in neighborhoods to make sure that there are not either illegal parties, illegal fireworks or other things going on. And then from the air, the land, the sea, the NYPD does these things quite often. They feel they have everything they need.

But certainly, with what happened in Chicago, there's a new sense of the reality and a seriousness to tonight's events.

Back to you.

BLACKWELL: Yes. Certainly, there would be a massive security, both uniformed and plain-clothed security footing for the city of New York, regardless of what happened across the country.

Natasha, let me come to you and how people are celebrating in Santa Monica.

Are you seeing security changes there?

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Victor, we did see a group of sheriff's deputies come on through in the last hour. But upon checking with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, this is a typical group of deputies who would be out here anyway.

They are monitoring what is happening in Illinois. But at this moment, they are not deploying extra resources in any sense or changing their plans in any way.

We're also reaching out to other local law enforcement to ask about that.

From what we're seeing out here among the crowd in Santa Monica, we talk to people who are our here because the last two years have been restrictive.

Especially on the west coast where the policies have been a little more stringent, relatively speaking, they are so excited to be out and about.

We had out-of-town visitors tell us they held off coming here last year and waited until this year. So a lot of people eager to get out.

One of the things that law enforcement and fire departments are really keeping an eye for is illegal fireworks. They really want people to go to professional fireworks show. It's illegal to set off personal fireworks in the city of L.A.

Think about the severe drought and wildfire dangerous in the western region. And so a lot of that, they're very concerned about wildfires that could be starting because of in holiday -- Victor?

BLACKWELL: Certainly, wildfires spike right around this period in the first week of July every year.

Natasha Chen, Miguel Marquez, thank you.

And of course, we're following the breaking news out of Highland Park, Illinois. Police are on the scene of this fatal shooting at a Fourth of July parade. The gunman still out there. We'll take you back to the scene.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)