Calls for a ban on assault rifles grow louder after a gunman fired into a crowd in the US. The 21-year-old suspect is now being charged.
The suspected gunman has been charged with seven counts of murder after the bloody deed at a US National Day parade in a suburb of Chicago.
“These are just the first of many charges,” said Lake County District Attorney Eric Rinehart on Tuesday evening (local time) in the small town of Highland Park. He expects the 21-year-old suspect to be held accountable on dozens of other counts. If convicted, however, the charges of first-degree murder alone would carry a sentence of life imprisonment with no chance of parole.
Rinehart: Ban on assault rifles necessary
Rinehart announced that the public prosecutor’s office would apply to the court this Wednesday for the suspect to be remanded in custody – without the possibility of bail pending a verdict. The prosecutor emphasized that more needs to be done to ensure people’s safety. He called for a nationwide ban on assault rifles, the kind used in numerous massacres in the United States, including the recent Highland Park crime. US President Joe Biden recently failed to make the same request due to resistance in Congress.
A gunman opened fire in Highland Park on Monday, US Independence Day. The alleged perpetrator was caught hours later. As the police announced on Tuesday, he fired a “powerful rifle” from the roof of a commercial building indiscriminately at the crowd celebrating and fired about 70 shots. More than 30 people were injured. The death toll rose to seven on Tuesday after another victim died from his injuries.
