Tuesday 5 July 2022 08:30 PM Death toll of Highland Park July Fourth parade rises to SEVEN trends now

The death toll in the Highland park Fourth of July parade massacre has risen to seven after one of the 47 people injured in the shooting died in hospital.

The death was confirmed by Lake County Major Crimes Task Force spokesman Sgt. Christopher Covelli on Tuesday.

Two of the seven killed in the shooting have been identified so far. It has been reported that all the victims were adults. Five died on the scene, and the sixth died later also at a hospital. 

It comes after a doctor who rushed into the carnage described the shooting victims as being 'blown up' by the attacker's high-powered weapon.

Dr. David Baum, a long time obstetrician in Highland Park, was attending the parade with his wife and children to watch his two-year-old grandson participate. When the shots rang out and others fled, he ran into the fray to try to help the victims.

In an interview with CNN, Baum described seeing victims with 'wartime' and 'unspeakable' injuries.

'The people who were gone were blown up by that gunfire,' Baum said, 'The horrific scene of some of those bodies is unspeakable for the average person.'

'Having been a physician, I've seen things in ERs, you know, you do see lots of blood. But the bodies were literally - some of the bodies - there was an evisceration injury from the power of this gun and the bullets.'

'There was another person who had an unspeakable head injury. Unspeakable,' he said to CNN.

Baum also described the 'horror' of a community changed forever in thirty quick seconds.

'What I saw was just families' lives forever changed because they were walking down with their kids and their scooters and somebody who shouldn't have had access to a high-powered rifle got up on a rooftop and decided to do what he wanted to do. 

'And the injuries  that I saw - I never served - but those are wartime injuries. Those are what are seen in victims of war, not victims at a parade,' Baum said. 

Baum said there were at least three doctors, a nurse, and a nurse practitioner who joined him in treating victims. He recalled paramedics covering up victims who they knew were dead at the scene. 

'The people that died at the scene - and pretty much they all died at the scene - the paramedics walked around covered them up and said "black", I guess they have a code for "dead, cannot try and resuscitate."'  

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Six people were killed and at least 38 wounded when 22-year-old Robert 'Bobby' Crimo III opened fire on the parade in Highland Park, an affluent suburban city just north of Chicago. 

Jacki Sundheim, a longtime teacher at the  North Shore Congregation Israel synagogue, was shot and killed by the gunman, the synagogue announced in an email to congregants Monday night.  

 'Jacki was a lifelong congregant of NSCI and a cherished member of NSCI's staff team for decades,' the synagogue wrote in an email that announced her murder 'Jacki's work, kindness and warmth touched us all.'

Sundheim, was the Reform synagogue's events and b'nei mitzvah coordinator, according to its website. She is survived by her husband Bruce and daughter Leah, the Times of Israel reported. 

'There are no words sufficient to express the depth of our grief for Jacki's death,' the synagogue added. 

Nicolas Toledo, 76, a beloved grandfather from Mexico, was also identified as one of the victims. His family said he was shot in the head as he sat in his wheelchair, his blood splattering on them.  

Toledo had not wanted to attend the parade in Highland Park, Illinois, his granddaughter told the New York Times.

But because of his disabilities that restricted him to a wheelchair, and his family's insistence of going, he obliged. 

The ages of the injured ranged from eight to 85-years-old. The area has a large Jewish community, but police have not yet shared a possible motive for Monday's slaughter.

The shooting began less than 15 minutes after the parade started. After an hours-long manhunt, police arrested Crimo. 

Dramatic photographs from the scene show the suspected mass-murderer - who posted creepy clips about shooting massacres online - being pinned to the ground face-down by police. 

Cops say Crimo opened fire from a rooftop, into a crowd who at first confused the sound of gunshots with Independence Day fireworks.

'We were all in shock,' Toledo's granddaughter Xochil Toledo told The Times. 'We thought it was part of the parade. Then we realized our grandfather was hit. We saw blood and everything splattered onto us.' 

Family members say Toledo was shot three times. Two other people in the family were also shot, she said, but their injuries were non life-threatening.  

Toledo, a Mexican national who held dual citizenships in Mexico and the United States, had moved back to Highland Park a few months ago at the urging of his family members. 

'We brought him over here so he could have a better life,' Xochil said. 'His sons wanted to take care of him and be more in his life, and then this tragedy happened.' 

'We all threw ourselves to the ground,' Toledo's daughter, Josefina Toledo, told The Daily Beast. 'My dad, since it's difficult for him to walk… he was sitting on his walker and he was hit in his back and in his head.' 

She said the parade was a family tradition and the whole family attended. But the celebration ended when shots rang out. 

The boyfriend of one of her nieces was also shot and is in stable condition.  

The Chicago Teacher's Union shared on Twitter that Zoe Kolpack, a teacher at Dever Elementary, had been shot in the attack. Her husband, her father and her brother in law were also shot, according to a GoFundMe page. 

A family friend wrote on the page that all four are in the hospital undergoing various surgeries for their injuries. Their conditions are unknown. 

Little is known about the other victims at this time, but the Lake County coroner has confirmed the five people pronounced dead at the scene were adults.

Another victim is believed to be Eduardo Uvaldo, who according to a GoFundMe page was first shot in the arm, and then in the back of the head. Uvaldo's family has written on social media that he is in critical condition. 

'My grandpa is a kind, loving, and funny man who did not deserve this. We pray for a positive outcome, but the doctors says the chances are low,' the GoFundMe page read.

Eduardo's wife, Maria, was hit in the head by fragments, and his grandson received a gunshot wound to the arm but is stable. Eduardo's granddaughter, who wrote the page, said the family attended the parade every Fourth of July.