Frantic hunt for gunman ends after six shot dead at Chicago parade

A large-scale manhunt for a gunman who shot dead six people during a Fourth of July parade in the US has ended with the arrest of a 22-year-old man.

At least two dozen people, aged from eight to 85, were also injured in the incident which took place just after the Independence Day event began in the wealthy town of Highland Park in Chicago at 10am on Monday (local time).

The suspect, Robert "Bobby" E. Crimo III, spent nine hours on the run before he was found by police in North Lake Forest at around 7pm local time.

Officers had spotted his silver Honda Fit before they arrested him on suspicion of shooting and killing six people.

An unverified image, posted on social media, appears to show the arrest, with police holding Crimo down.

Crimo, also known as Awake the Rapper, is from the Highland Park area.

In one of this songs, he raps, "my actions will be valiant and my thought is unnecessary, I know what I have to do, I know what's in it, not only for me, but for everyone else."

Video filmed from the crowd shows children performing in the parade running away amid the sound of gunshots.

"Oh my god," a woman can be heard screaming in a video shared by The New York Times as she and other bystanders flee.

Police, who’ve since located the "high-powered" rifle behind the mass shooting, believe the suspect fired on the crowd from a nearby rooftop.

Swat teams were seen going from door to door in their search for the gunman.

Lake County Major Crime Task Force spokesman Christopher Covelli said they believe there was only one shooter.

Highland Park Mayor, Nancy Rotering, said the community has been terrorised by an act of violence that has shaken it to the core.

"On a day that we came together to celebrate community and freedom, we are instead mourning the tragic loss of life and struggling with the terror that was brought upon us," she said.

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While the Illinois Governor has launched scathing remarks against the attack.

“If you are angry today, I’m here to tell you to be angry. I’m furious. I’m furious that yet more innocent lives were taken by gun violence,” he said.

“While we celebrate the 4th of July just once a year, mass shootings have become our weekly, yes, weekly American tradition.”

The latest attack in a wave of public shootings in the US

The violence comes just six weeks after 19 school children and two teachers were gunned down during a mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.

While just 10 days before that attack, 10 people were shot dead at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York.

US citizens have taken to Twitter to voice their anger over the 308th shooting in the US this year.

"How do we fix this hell?" one person wrote.

"Not again," another said. "I am so sick of a US Senate that keeps watching people get shot."

Someone else added: "No one is doing anything to stop it. Not the Democrats. Not the Republicans. No one. They all have blood on their hands.

While US President Joe Biden has vowed not to "give up fighting the epidemic of gun violence," pointing to a gun control law that he signed last month.

“Things will get better still, but not without more hard work together," he said.

“Each day we’re reminded there’s nothing guaranteed about our democracy, nothing guaranteed about our way of life.

"You have to fight for it, defend it and earn it by voting.”

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