Highland Park shooting: Trump-backed Illinois gubernatorial candidate apologizes for ‘Let’s move on’ comment

A Republican gubernatorial candidate in Illinois endorsed by former President Donald Trump has apologized after asking people to “move on” to celebrate Independence Day while also leading a prayer for those impacted by the mass shooting in Highland Park. The suspected gunman was still at large at the time. 

Illinois state Sen. Darren Bailey, who recently won the GOP primary for governor, was in the nearby Chicago suburb of Skokie preparing for the village’s own Fourth of July parade when he went live on Facebook at 11:45 a.m., less than two hours after the shooting unfolded in neighboring Highland Park. 

“We are here in Cook County in the beautiful community of Skokie getting ready for the Independence Day parade, and it was canceled. Unfortunately, about 20 minutes away from here in Highland Park, there was a shooting. There were several people that we know have been shot. That’s all we know,” Bailey said, surrounded by a group of supporters holding American flags and campaign signs. 

“And we’re just going to take a moment and pray for the families. Friends, let’s pray for the law enforcement, and even the organizers of this parade. They’ve done an amazing job,” he said. “There’s a lot of confusion and frustration in the parade being canceled, but they did the right thing because people’s safety has got to come first. The shooter is still at large, so let’s pray for justice to prevail.”

SUSPECT ARRESTED IN HIGHLAND PARK FOURTH OF JULY SHOOTING: LIVE UPDATES 

“And then let’s move on and let’s celebrate the independence of this nation,” the candidate said. “We know the mission. We’ve got to get corruption and evil out of our government, and we have got to elect men and women of honor and courage to get this country and this state back on track.”  

He then led the group in prayer, asking God for justice, to look after the families affected in the Highland Park shooting, to heal those with mental illnesses and to protect law enforcement. 

At least six people were killed and at least 30 wounded in the shooting that unfolded during an Independence Day parade in Highland Park, an affluent community of about 30,000 on Chicago’s north shore. An hours-long manhunt ensued during which residents hunkered down in businesses or received police escorts to their homes. 

That ended with a traffic stop and brief chase Monday evening when authorities detained a person of interest identified as Robert E. Crimo III. So far, authorities have not disclosed a motive for the attack. 

In a statement viewed by Business Insider, Bailey apologized for some of the comments he made on the live stream. 

“My intent was to pray for the victims and those affected by today’s tragedy and for the shooter to be caught and prosecuted without further loss,” Bailey said in the statement viewed by the outlet. “I apologize if in any way we diminished the pain being felt across our state today.”

He later tweeted that he and his wife were sending “heartfelt prayers to the victims of the shooting in Highland Park.” 

“July 4th is supposed to be a holiday for families, parades, for celebrating the American dream, but when people don’t feel safe in their own community, they are deprived of that dream,” Bailey wrote. “We must call a special session to address crime on our streets. We need to demand law and order and prosecute criminals. We need more police on our streets to keep our families safe. Public safety must be a top priority.” 

“We must also better prioritize our budget to invest more in mental health. I have been calling on this for months. It must be a top priority,” he added in another follow-up tweet. 

Last month, Bailey won the Republican gubernatorial primary in Illinois and will face off in November’s general election with Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker. He has blamed Pritzker’s “woke” liberal leadership for violent crime crippling Chicago, and he also cited a COVID lockdown-related lawsuit he won against Pritzker as a state lawmaker in 2020 as his momentum to stand up to whom he described as a “tyrant” governor.

Former President Donald Trump — at a rally in Illinois — endorsed Bailey, whom Democrats previously viewed as the weaker general election candidate. 

Once considered the GOP front-runner, the campaign for Richard Irvin, the mayor of Aurora, Illinois in metropolitan Chicago, suffered attacks from the right on his conservative credentials, and a deluge of ads from Pritzker and the Democratic Governors Association targeting him for months. 

Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser and Bailee Hill contributed to this report.