Chicago Shooter Is Charged With 7 Counts of 1st-Degree Murder

Robert Crimo, the 22-year-old suspect of a mass shooting during an Independence Day parade in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park on Monday, has been charged with seven counts of first-degree murder.

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Lake County State's Attorney Eric Rinehart announced the charge at a news conference on Tuesday. If convicted, the suspect will face a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. More charges against Crimo III will be issued, Rinehart said.

On Tuesday, police confirmed the death toll of the shooting has risen to seven, and adjusted the number of people wounded to 46. Sergeant Christopher Covelli from the Lake County Major Crime Task Force said the suspect pre-planned the attack for several weeks, used a high-powered rifle and fired over 70 rounds into the crowd, and acted alone in the attack.

Police found a second rifle in Crimo's vehicle when he was arrested Monday, besides the one recovered at the crime scene in Highland Park, an affluent neighborhood 40 km north of Chicago. On Tuesday night, residents of this suburb held a candlelight vigil for the deceased with the assistance of the U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris.

Gun violence continues to rattle the American society, and no solutions appear within reach. In the end, ordinary Americans have fallen victim to a dysfunctional system.

According to the nonprofit research group Gun Violence Archive, at least 315 mass shootings have claimed more than 22,000 lives so far this year. The bloodshed on Independence Day has once again laid bare gun violence as a tumor bedeviling the U.S. society, chronically dividing the nation and eroding public trust in Washington's capacity to govern.

Worse still, the U.S. Supreme Court, added tensions over gun control in late June by striking down a century-old New York State law requiring gun owners to have probable cause in order to carry a concealed weapon.