Illinois GOP candidate for governor apologizes for saying 'let's move on' after Highland Park shooting

“If you’re angry today, I’m here to tell you: Be angry. I’m furious.”

That was Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker at a press conference in Highland Park on Monday, hours after a gunman on a rooftop opened fire on an Independence Day parade there, killing at least six people and leaving at least 30 others wounded. Authorities named a person of interest, 21-year-old Robert “Bobby” E. Crimo III, who was taken into custody after an hours-long manhunt on Monday evening.

Illinois state Sen. Darren Bailey, the Republican candidate for governor who is running to unseat Pritzker, was in nearby Skokie, Ill., one of several surrounding communities forced to cancel their Independence Day parades in the wake of the mass shooting in Highland Park.

“The shooter is still at large, so let’s pray for justice to prevail,” Bailey said while leading a group prayer that was broadcast live on his Facebook page. “And then let’s move on and let’s celebrate the independence of this nation.”

He added: “We have got to get corruption and evil out of our government.”

Bailey later apologized for suggesting the community quickly “move on” and “celebrate” Independence Day.

“I apologize if in any way we diminished the pain being felt across our state today,” he said in a statement. “I hope we can all come together in prayer and action to address rampant crime and mental health issues to make sure these horrific tragedies don’t happen again.”

At the press conference Monday, Pritzker was joined by Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., an Iraq War veteran, who said she listened to the sounds of the gunfire on a video captured by one of the bystanders at the parade.

“The last time I heard a weapon with that capacity firing that rapidly on a Fourth of July was Iraq,” Duckworth said. “It was not the United States of America.”

She added: “We can and we should and we will do better.”

Pritzker said he had spoken to President Biden, who said in a statement that he was “shocked by the senseless gun violence that has yet again brought grief to an American community on this Independence Day.”

“I recently signed the first major bipartisan gun reform legislation in almost 30 years into law, which includes actions that will save lives,” Biden added. “But there is much more work to do, and I’m not going to give up fighting the epidemic of gun violence.”