Highland Park shooting suspect wore women’s clothing to hide identity, planned attack for weeks: cops

Suspected Highland Park mass shooter Robert Crimo planned the deadly attack for weeks and wore women’s clothes to hide his identity during his attempted escape, according to police.

The shooting at the suburban Chicago July 4 parade left at least seven dead and more than 30 injured in the affluent Illinois city.

Lake County Major Crime Task Force spokesman Chris Covelli said Tuesday that Crimo, 21, climbed a fire escape ladder to a roof of a building and started shooting into the crowd. He fired around 70 shots before dropping the gun, climbing back down and going to his mother’s house.

Robert “Bobby” Crimo III tried to cover his tattoos and generally hide his identity by wearing women's clothes, police said.

He was arrested several hours later.

Crimo “did this to conceal his facial tattoos and his identity, and help him during the escape with... other people who were fleeing the chaos,” Covelli said.

The type of gun has not been made public but was described as “high powered” and “similar to an AR-15.” A trace by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives found the gun was bought legally in the state.

FBI agents work the scene Tuesday, a day after the shooting. (Jim Vondruska/)

Covelli said the suspected had been planning the attack for “several weeks.”

He added that investigators are reviewing the suspect’s social media posts.