Violence continued over the holiday weekend. What should have been a day of unity was instead filled with tragedy. We need God to step in.

From CBN News. A gunman on a rooftop opened fire on an Independence Day parade in suburban Chicago on Monday, killing at least six people, wounding at least 30 and sending hundreds of marchers, parents with strollers and children on bicycles fleeing in terror, police said.

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Authorities said a man named as a person of interest in the shooting was taken into police custody Monday evening after an hours long manhunt in and around Highland Park, an affluent community of about 30,000 on Chicago’s north shore.

The July 4 shooting was just the latest to shatter the rituals of American life. Schools, churches, grocery stores and now community parades have all become killing grounds in recent months. This time, the bloodshed came as the nation tried to find cause to celebrate its founding and the bonds that still hold it together….

The shooting occurred at a spot on the parade route where many residents had staked out prime viewing points early in the day for the annual celebration. Dozens of fired bullets sent hundreds of parade-goers — some visibly bloodied — fleeing. They left a trail of abandoned items that showed everyday life suddenly, violently disrupted: A half-eaten bag of potato chips; a box of chocolate cookies spilled onto the grass; a child’s Chicago Cubs cap….

Highland Park Police Chief Lou Jogmen said a police officer pulled over Robert E. Crimo III about five miles north of the shooting scene, several hours after police released the man’s photo and an image of his silver Honda Fit, and warned the public that he was likely armed and dangerous. Authorities initially said he was 22, but an FBI bulletin and Crimo’s social media said he was 21.

Police declined to immediately identify Crimo as a suspect but said identifying him as a person of interest, sharing his name and other information publicly was a serious step.

Lake County Major Crime Task Force spokesman Christopher Covelli said at a news conference “several of the deceased victims” died at the scene and one was taken to a hospital and died there. Police have not released details about the victims or wounded.

Lake County Coroner Jennifer Banek said the five people killed at the parade were adults, but didn’t have information on the sixth victim who was taken to a hospital and died there. One of those killed was a Mexican national, Roberto Velasco, Mexico’s director for North American affairs, said on Twitter Monday. He said two other Mexicans were wounded.

NorthShore University Health Center received 26 patients after the attack. All but one had gunshot wounds, said Dr. Brigham Temple, medical director of emergency preparedness. Their ages ranged from 8 to 85, and Temple estimated that four or five patients were children….

President Joe Biden on Monday said he and first lady Jill Biden were “shocked by the senseless gun violence that has yet again brought grief to an American community on this Independence Day.”

Biden signed the widest-ranging gun violence bill passed by Congress in decades, a compromise that showed at once both progress on a long-intractable issue and the deep-seated partisan divide that persists….

More than a dozen police officers on Monday surrounded a home listed as an address for Crimo in Highland Park. Some officers held rifles as they fixed their eyes on the home. Police blockaded roads leading to the home in a tree-lined neighborhood near a golf course, allowing only select law enforcement cars through a tight outer perimeter….

Ominous signs of a joyous event suddenly turned to horror filled both sides of Central Avenue where the shooting occurred. Dozens of baby strollers — some bearing American flags, abandoned children’s bikes and a helmet bedecked with images of Cinderella were left behind. Blankets, lawn chairs, coffees and water bottles were knocked over as people fled.

Gina Troiani and her son were lined up with his daycare class ready to walk onto the parade route when she heard a loud sound that she believed was fireworks — until she heard people yell about a shooter. In a video that Troiani shot on her phone, some of the kids are visibly startled at the loud noise, and they scramble to the side of the road as a siren wails nearby.

“We just start running in the opposite direction,” she told The Associated Press….

“It was just sort of chaos,” she said. “There were people that got separated from their families, looking for them. Others just dropped their wagons, grabbed their kids and started running….”

From Fox News. The second victim of Monday’s mass shooting at a July Fourth parade in Highland Park, Illinois, near Chicago has been identified.

Jacki Sundheim, a devout Jewish synagogue attendee, was identified by the North Shore Congregation Israel [NSCI] where she attended….

The synagogue described Sundheim as a “lifelong congregant of NSCI and a cherished member of NSCI’s staff team for decades….”

Immediately following the shooting, NSCI President Jeff Echt released a statement saying the synagogue was “horrified by the sickening and senseless shooting….”

Sundheim is the second victim that has been identified in the mass shooting that left six people dead and at least 31 wounded.

The family of Nicholas Toledo, a Mexican native in his 70s, identified him as a victim of the shooting.

Toledo expressed earlier in the morning that he no longer wished to attend the festival as he was concerned about his health.

He did; however, go and his granddaughter, Xochil Toledo, 23, told the Chicago Sun-Times that he was the reason the rest of the family survived.

“He was the one who saved all of our lives. It would have gone to me, my boyfriend or my cousins,” she told the outlet….

Law enforcement officers arrested Robert “Bobby” E. Crimo III, 22, as a person of interest in the shooting. He was captured around 6:30 p.m. Monday by the North Chicago Police Department after officers spotted his Honda Fit with a license plate matching the suspect vehicle….

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(Excerpts from CBN News and Fox News. Photo Credit: Getty Images)