HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. — Highland Park Police Cheif Lou Jogmen on Wednesday recounted the tragic events of July 4, when streets filled with parade-goers around him became a battlefield.
“There was the clear and indistinguishable sound of gunfire. There was no question of what that was,” Jogmen said.
However, the law enforcement official said the direction the bullets were coming from was a mystery.
“You heard the shots but they were reverberating through buildings,” Jogmen said.
As surrounding locals grew terrified, the police department head spoke about the sheer terror of locals running away for cover.
“Now, having the comparison of what I’ve seen unfortunately on TV time and time again to now living it, there is no comparison,” Jogmen said. “Time is moving both slowly and so quickly at the same time.”
The hours that followed a mass shooting that killed seven people and wounded many more were agonizing, the police chief revealed.
A manhunt for the alleged gunman lasted over eight hours.
“There was a time there where the thought was what if we never find this person and hold them accountable,” Jogmen said. “That was a devastating feeling to have.”
A community member, police say, was the one who spotted the alleged shooter’s vehicle.
“They followed the car for a while and called police to keep an eye on the car until police were in a position to take that person into custody,” Jogmen said.
Police were searching for 21-year-old Robert “Bobby” Crimo III. The North Shore native was driving a 2010 silver Honda Fit with Illinois plates when officers took him into custody following a brief pursuit in Lake Forest on Route 41 near Westleigh Road.
Prosecutors charged the suspected gunman with seven counts of first-degree murder. A judge on Wednesday denied bail for the alleged shooter. Yet, a community in mourning remains, wrapping their arms about Monday’s tragic events and each other.
For the police force that had the unimaginable task of responding, Jogmen says his department continues to press forward.
“I’m proud of the work they did and that they were able to help people,” he said. “It’s been a fast-moving couple of days. You catch yourself wondering, ‘did this really happen here in Highland Park?’ It did and we are going to work through it.”