Shooting survivors describe seeing alleged gunman on roof during Highland Park 4th of July parade

"All I could say to myself was, 'This isn't real,'" Abby Brosio said.

ByKevin Shalvey and Jon Haworth ABCNews logo
Tuesday, July 5, 2022
Highland Park 4th of July parade shooting survivors speak out
Shooting survivor Abby Brosio described seeing the alleged gunman on the roof while she and her husband, Tony, attended the Highland Park Fourth of July parade with their family.

HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. -- As Abby Brosio stood with her father-in-law watching the Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois, on Monday morning, a hail of bullets began to fly from top of the building directly across the street.

"I remember looking around to try to figure out where the sound was coming from," Brosio told "Good Morning America" on Tuesday morning. "And I, in fact, looked up at the neighboring business across the street and saw the shooter on the roof and I just screamed that it was a shooter."

She said she saw "long hair and a gun." As she turned to pull her 1-year-old daughter and 3-year-old son into Gearhead Outfitters, a store managed by her husband, Tony, she was grazed by a bullet, she said.

Her father-in-law was shot in the leg, she said.

MORE: Grandfather, lifelong synagogue member among parade shooting victims

A gunman opened fire on a Fourth of July parade in a Chicago suburb, killing at least six people. Here's what we know so far about those victims.

Six people were killed and more than 24 others were injured in Monday's mass shooting in Highland Park, a suburb north of Chicago, according to officials. Police said on Monday they took into custody a 22-year-old person of interest, Robert "Bobby" Crimo III, in connection with the incident.

Tony Brosio was inside Gearhead Outfitters as the shooting began. As parade spectators rushed the store, looking to take cover, he helped coordinate. Video from inside the store shows crowds running inside. Some stumble, others glance behind them.

"We were just trying to get as many people as we possibly could inside," he told "GMA" on Tuesday. "Like I said, it was just instinct."

WATCH: Video captures moment police take person of interest into custody

Video shows a person of interest in the Highland Park parade shooting being placed into custody after a brief chase.

Both the Brosios had the feeling that it "could never happen" to them that they'd be in an active shooting situation, he said.

"You alway have that, 'It could never happen here,'" he said. "It just did."

"It was like a dream. All I could say to myself was, 'This isn't real,'" Abby said.

As Abby and her father-in-law reached the safety of Gearhead Outfitters, she realized that they'd both been hit by bullets, she said. Both were taken to a local hospital and later released, she said.

US mass shootings

As of July 4, 2022, more than 300 mass shootings were reported this year in the U.S.

The Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as one with four or more people injured or killed, not including the perpetrator, counted, 692 mass shootings in 2021, 610 in 2020, and 417 in 2019.

July 4 had the highest number of mass shootings and number of people injured in them of any day in 2021.

There were 11 mass shootings on Independence Day, with 51 people injured.

July also had the most mass shootings of any month in 2021 with 86, June had the second highest with 77.

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