Robert Crimo, the-21 year-old-suspect, who allegedly opened fire on a 4th of July parade in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park, Illinois, in the United States (US), was charged with seven counts of first-degree murder on Tuesday, 5 July.
Crimo, who was arrested several hours after the attack, has reportedly been visited by the police twice before this.
In 2019, the police called on him for a suspected suicide attempt and a second time to remove a collection of knives after he had allegedly threatened to "kill everyone."
Lake County State's Attorney Eric Rinehart added that besides the seven, around a "dozen more charges" were anticipated centred around each of the victims.
"There will be more charges," he said.
The death toll rose to seven on Tuesday after one of the injured succumbed to their injuries at the hospital, Police spokesman Christopher Covelli told AFP. Over 35 people were injured in the attack.
Among the dead were Kevin McCarthy, 37 and his wife, Irina, 35, parents to a two-year-old boy who was wandering around alone post the shooting, CBS News reported.
'Wore Women's Clothes, Planned Attack for Weeks'
Crimo, also known as ‘Awake the Rapper’ had planned the attack for weeks, according to the US police, and even wore women's clothing to cover up his facial tattoos.
They added that he had bought the "high-powered rifle" used for the attack legally and seemed to have chosen the victims at random.
He opened fire from the roof of a business which "he accessed via a fire escape ladder."
Following the shooting, he went to his mother's home nearby and borrowed her car. He was arrested thereafter but no motive for the attack has been established so far.
Although authorities had initially said he was 22, an FBI bulletin and Crimo’s social media said he was 21.
The police are also looking into disturbing online posts and videos made by him.
Increasing Gun Violence
This attack is only one among the recent spate of gun violence cases in the US.
According to the Gun Violence Archive, there have been 309 incidents of mass shootings in the US in 2022 alone.
At least three other incidents were reported on 4 July, although no deaths have been registered.
On 25 June, US President Joe Biden had signed into law the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the first significant federal bill on gun control in the country in decades.
He said that while the bill fell short of what's really needed to curtail gun violence and mass shootings in the US, it would "save lives." The law, however, does not ban the sale of assault weapons.
Two massacres in May where 10 Black people were shot at an upstate New York supermarket, and 19 children and two teachers killed at an elementary school in Texas, triggered the debate on gun control.
Talking about Monday's attack, Biden said that he was committed to fighting the "epidemic of gun violence."
(With inputs from AFP and CBS News.)
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