chief breaking news correspondent trace gallagher joins us now from los angeles. trace, we covered so many of these shootings. what makes this one unique? you know, it s interesting. if you go back to the video you played there, that a big description of what happened here. police lost a little time there some of the people are reacting to the gun shots right away. a lot of other people that they questioned and talked to that were along the parade route thought they were fireworks. they stood there. they didn t move. that gave people a delay in how they approached this. the gun shots go off and you can see some people are still applauding. if you go down the entire parade line, you ll see video like this that we have seen throughout the day of people that are still sitting there because they think they re hearing fireworks, they think it s part of the show and they waited before they left. it s interesting to me that as you go forward in this investigation, they have the gu
gunshots wounds to police, who a admit he was not armed when shot. good evening, i m erin burnett. outfront tonight begin with the breaking news, the highland park shooting suspect has now been charged formally with seven counts of first degree murder. we just heard a live press conference where officials say dozens of charges coming against the smekt so this is just the beginning, seven accounts of first degree murder. fa faces life sentence without possibility of parole, and again, there will be dozens more charges but that s where we start. officials say he planned his attack for weeks and then killed seven people and injured 38 more. the victims, as we now know ranging in age from age eight to 88, police have released a photo of the 21-year-old gunman dressed in women s clothing during the attack, we believe he did this to conceal his facial tattoos and identity and fired 70 rounds from a high-powered rifle into the crowd. photo from cnn shows the suspect moments after
rapid fire shots rang out. we have video from the scene but we warn you it is disturbing . investigators recovered firearm evidence from the rooftop of the nearby building. they believe the gunman climbed an unsecured ladder in an alley and opened fire from the roof. police say the gun was a high powered rifle. and the attack appears to be random and intentional. senator of illinois pledged to do whatever she can to help the community recover. the last time i heard a weapon with that capacity firing that rapidly on a fourth of july was iraq. it was not united states of america. we can and we should and we will do better. the suspect was arrested without incident. a few hours later. identified as robert crimo. third. he posted ominous music videos online. under the nakme awake the rappe. this individual is believed to have been responsible for what happened and the investigation will continue. charges haven t been approved yet at this time. we re a long way from that.
now in custody. police called the attack random and intentional. it is difficult, but important to hear the moment that gunfire erupted to begin to understand the terror that people faced. i ll warn you, the video we re about to see is disturbing. lord help us. personally i witnessed bursts of gunfire like that before, but only from u.s. military firing positions, while embedded with u.s. forces in iraq and afghanistan. that was on an american street. yeah. and those bullets left a number injured as we mentioned, and dead. the injured ranging in age from 8 to 85 years old. dr. david baum was there as the gunfire erupted, saw the immediate aftermath, and jumped in to help. the people who were gone were blown up by that gunfire. blown up? blown up. blown up. the horrific scene of some of the bodies is unspeakable for the average person. those are war time injuries. those are what are seen in victims of war, not victims at a parade. now sadly they are seen in victims
gunman. cnn s senior investigative correspondent, drew griffin, has details. the sheriff s office reveals two incident involving the suspect. the first in april of 2019. a suicide attempt handled by mental health professionals. the secondo cured in september of 2019. a family member reported he was going to kill efveryone and he had a collection of knives. the police responded to his residence. they removed 16 knives, a dagger and sword from his home. at that time, there was no probably cause to arrest. there were no complaints that were signed by any of the victims. police say the suspected shooter preplanned his attack and get away for several weeks leaving his high powered rifle behind, dressing as a woman, and slipping away with the retreating crowds. it was that rifle purchased legally and traced back to him that helped police identify the suspect, track down his mother s car and make this arrest. at this point, we have not developed a motive from him. while po