Six people were killed and 36 injured after gunfire erupted at a July 4th parade in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park, according to local reports.

Witnesses reported hearing up to 25 shots fired just after 10am CDT on Monday, which struck several in attendance and sent hundreds of parade-goers — some visibly bloodied — running from the parade route, leaving behind chairs, baby strollers and blankets.

The Chicago Sun-Times reported that blankets had been placed over “three bloodied bodies” and up to five others had been wounded in the shooting. The city later confirmed six deaths and two dozen people had been wounded.

Read this joint report by Rachel Sharp and Bevan Hurley for more:

Robert Crimo’s uncle said he did not see “warning signs” about his nephew turning violent as he expressed his condolences to the families of the Independence Day mass shooting victims.

“I saw no signs of trouble. And if I did see signs I would have said something,” Paul Crimo told Fox 32 Chicago.

Mr Crimo said that he saw his nephew on Sunday but did not notice anything out of the ordinary. He added that he saw nothing that could have triggered him.

Stuti Mishra reporting the details:

Highland Park natives Rachel Brosnahan and Richard Marx have condemned the mass shooting at an Independence Day parade in suburban Chicago on Monday, 4 July.

Condemning the shooting, Marx tweeted that he grew up in Highland Park as well and used his social media accounts “to check on the welfare of people I still know there”.

The “Right Here Waiting” singer tweeted: “My heart is always broken by these constant mass shootings no matter where they occur but today I’m extra heartbroken. And extra angry at the senselessness.”

Read the details in this story by my colleague Maanya Sachdeva:

Gunfire broke out late on Monday near the Philadelphia Museum of Art on the final day of a festival with a large number of people watching a fireworks show after a concert.

“There is a security incident on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway,” emergency authorities said, referring to the shooting.
Police instructed people in surrounding buildings to shelter in place.

“I didn’t hear the shots, but the cops were like, ‘run, run, run,’” one woman told an NBC affiliate.

One officer sustained a graze wound to the head and the other a gunshot wound to the right shoulder, according to NBC10.

Hours after a mass shooting at a 4 July parade in Illinois left six people dead and dozens of others injured, state senator Darren Bailey asked Americans to move on and celebrate.

The Republican lawmaker said in a statement: “Let’s move on and celebrate the independence of this nation,” reported The Daily Beast.

“We have got to get corruption and evil out of our government.”

Mr Bailey is being backed by former president Donald Trump in the race for Illinois governor.

My colleague Sravasti Dasgupta reports:

After the shooting in Philadelphia, city’s mayor Jim Kennedy said his administration was “pleading with lawmakers” to stop the “flow of guns into our city.”

“Our traditions cannot and will not be ruined by the scourge of gun violence,” he added.

Two Philadelphia police officers were shot near the Benjamin Franklin Parkway late on Monday as thousands of people celebrated a Fourth of July concert and fireworks show with the crowd scattering in panic when shots were fired.

The shooting came hours after a gunman on a rooftop opened fire on families waving flags and children riding bikes at a Fourth of July parade in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park, where six people were killed and over 36 were wounded.

Both officers in Philadelphia were released from hospital after suffering non-life threatening injuries, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said. Police were searching for the shooter.

Another victim was Jacki Sundheim, a teacher at a local synagogue in Highland Park. The North Shore Congregation Israel confirmed her death in an email to congregants.

“There are no words sufficient to express the depth of our grief for Jacki’s death and sympathy for her family and loved ones,” the synagogue said.

A retired doctor standing across the street where the gunman opened fire, said “it sounded like fireworks going off”.

“It was pandemonium,” Richard Kaufman told Reuters, adding that he heard about 200 shots. “People were covered in blood tripping over each other.”

A Mexican national is one of the victims in the shooting incident, announced Mexico’s director for North American affairs Roberto Velasco said on Twitter.

He said two other Mexicans were wounded.