Dr. David Baum, who treated victims in the Highland Park shooting on Monday, described some of the horrific injuries he witnessed.
Baum and his wife were at the parade, and their grandson was a participant. When their family ran away from the shooting, the doctor ran toward the scene.
Baum said some of the dead were "blown up."
"The horrific scene of some of the bodies is unspeakable for the average person. Having been a physician, I've seen things in ERs, you know, you do see lots of blood. But the bodies were literally — some of the bodies — it was an evisceration injury from the power of this gun and the bullets. There was another person who had an unspeakable head injury. Unspeakable," he told CNN.
Speaking as parade-goers' belongings could be seen abandoned at the scene in the background, Baum said the suburban community in Illinois will never be the same.
"I grew up here, and I moved back here with my wife. We raised our kids here. My daughter and my son-in-law moved here because they were concerned about gun violence and carjackings in the city when they had their son. And now people are, you know, they're scared to take their kids to nursery school. But what I saw was just families' lives forever changed because they were walking down with their kids and their scooters and somebody who shouldn't have had access to a high-powered rifle got up on a rooftop and decided to do what he wanted to do," Baum said.
Robert E. Crimo III, identified by police as the person suspected of shooting and killing six people and wounding dozens of others at the July 4 parade, was arrested on Monday hours after the shooting.
"You know, to me, you can't drink until you're 21, but I still do not know why this country allows an 18-year-old to have a weapon that was meant for war. And the injuries ... that I saw — I never served — but those are wartime injuries. Those are what are seen in victims of war, not victims at a parade," Baum continued.
Debra Baum said people were killed within 30 seconds.
"Today, it's just hitting me more how sad I am. And I'm also thinking we all have to change our behavior until this gets under control. I'm not going to a parade anymore. I'm not going to a sports event. I'm afraid for my grandson to go to school. We all have to change our behavior and not do the things we love to do because of this situation," she said.
"I don't think the average person has to see a body eviscerated or a head injury that's unspeakable ... to understand what the problem is with this country," Dr. Baum said. "And the problem with this country is the failure to recognize that every week, you all are going to a different community with a different Uvalde. And Uvalde was in Highland Park in a small way. I mean ... what happened in Texas is horrific. What happened here is horrific. The fact that my kids and my grandson and all of these other kids from this community who are nice community members were walking down the street on scooters in their wagon, that's all they have to know. They don't have to see what I saw. ... The people who were gone were gone instantly," he said.