Kane County Reporter

Senate Republican leader Dan McConchie (R-Hawthorn Woods) has joined other state officials in asking for prayers following the deadly mass shooting in Highland Park, a crime McConchie called an "attack on America."

It was during an Independence Day parade that a man began firing into the crowd of people from a rooftop, a Wednesday ABC 7 Chicago report said. Police identified Robert “Bobby” Crimo III, 22, as a person of interest in the shooting. Crimo was arrested in Lake Forest approximately eight hours after the shooting.

"During a time when fellow Americans, our neighbors, were celebrating our great nation, we witnessed pure evil," McConchie said in a statement. "This will be a tragedy never forgotten. As we await justice under the law, I will continue to offer my prayers and full support to the community of Highland Park."

Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering said the community's hearts are shattered. 

In a statement, the mayor called what happened at the city's parade "a terribly difficult day" and the "bloodiest" in Highland Park history. 

"Gun violence - a mass shooting such as this casts a much wider net of agony than what the public is typically exposed to; it's a crisis that devastates entire families and communities in a single moment and we know will take time to heal," Rotering said. 

Crimo, the alleged shooter, is a rapper who goes by the name Awake the Rapper; a report from Axios said. Videos on his YouTube channel, all of which have since been taken down, showed images of mass murders.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker also asked for people to pray for the families of the victims and the first responders. 

"There are no words for the kind of monster who lies in wait and fires into a crowd of families with children celebrating a holiday with their community," the governor said in a statement. He also vowed to stand strong in the fight to "end this plague of gun violence."