Tuesday, July 5 top news briefs

Hi. Today is Tuesday, July 5. I am taking Alex’s place today. Ready for the top news briefs?

Illinois mass shooting during July 4 parade

In Highland Park, Illinois, which is about 30 minutes north of Chicago, there was a mass shooting during a morning 4th of July parade.

At least six people were killed by a gunman who opened fire from a rooftop while using a high-powered rifle. The suspect’s name is Robert Crimo. He was arrested Monday evening.

A police spokesperson said they believe the shooting was completely random. News reports said Crimo posted some disturbing material on social media in the past about himself carrying out an attack with a rifle.

As of this morning, two of the six victims were identified. They were a middle-aged woman named Jacki Sundheim and a 78-year-old grandfather named Nicolas Toledo.

There were two other shooting chaos at a July 4th celebration in Philadelphia and Orlando.

Two Philadelphia police officers were injured by gunshots - one officer suffered a graze wound to the head, while the other was wounded in the shoulder. The names of those officers have not been released.

There is no word on a suspect or any arrests so far in this shooting. They said it was not yet known if the shooting was intentional or if the officers were hit by spray bullets.

There are videos showing thousands of spectators fleeing downtown Orlando’s fireworks show and running for their lives. Later, the Orlando police department said on Twitter there was no evidence of a shooting and no public safety hazard. They suspected that noise from the fireworks confused some spectators, causing them to run. One woman tweeted in response to the police department’s message “This is so disturbing! So many people so on edge. This isn’t right.”

Brittney Griner writes letter to Biden

The family of U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner revealed that she wrote a letter to President Biden to express her fears of being detained in Russia forever and to ask him to not forget about her and other Americans who are detained.

Griner was detained in February after Russian authorities said they discovered cannabis products in her bags at an airport. This happened before the war with Ukraine started. Griner’s case is currently in the trial phase.

Griner said her father was a Vietnam war veteran and that it hurts her to be away from her family as they usually honor veterans on the 4th of July.

Griner said in the letter that she voted for the first time in 2020 for Biden and that she believes in him.

3 California men missing after river rescue attempt

Three men are missing and presumed dead in California after a child was caught in a current river and they swam out in an attempt to rescue him, authorities said.

The boy was swept away at a popular boating and swimming destination called Three Mile Slough. The boy was later pulled from the water and wasn’t hurt but three of his relatives were pulled under after they went in after him, said the local police chief Wilson. Wilson continued, “people saw them go under and never saw them come back.”

Authorities searched for the men for two hours in hopes of rescuing them but later transitioned to a recovery operation.

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NASA satellite had a separation success

A spacecraft, Capstone, the size of a microwave oven broke from a bigger satellite Photon orbiting around Earth Monday. It was launched June 28 from New Zealand.

Photon carried a 55 pounds Capstone for six days before a final engine burst allowed Photon to break from Earth’s gravitational pull and send Capstone on its way to the moon. It will take another four months for Capstone to reach the moon, as it cruises along using tiny amounts of fuel.

If the rest of the mission is successful, the Capstone satellite will send back vital information for months as the first to take a new orbit around the moon called a near-rectilinear halo orbit.

Hot dog eating champ does it again

Competitive eater Joey Chestnut won his record-extending 15th Nathan’s Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest, devouring an astounding 63 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes on Monday.

It was 20 more than the next competitor, although he still fell short of his own record of 76 in the 10-minute time frame.

A protester rushed the stage in the middle of the competition, holding a sign ‘Expose Smithfield’s Deathstar’ while wearing a Darth Vader mask. Chestnut took matters into his own hands, grabbing the person by the neck before throwing him to the ground. Security was able to get the person off the stage.

That is all the top stories for today and stay with the light!

Shooting:

https://www.axios.com/2022/07/04/highland-park-shooting-july-4-parade

https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/illinois-shooting-july-fourth-parade-07-05-22/index.html

https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/police-respond-to-reports-of-officers-shot-near-parkway-concert/3290066/

https://twitter.com/OrlandoPolice/status/1544141511348076544

https://www.mynews13.com/fl/orlando/news/2022/07/05/orlando-police-say-no-confirmed-threat-or-incident-at-lake-eola-event

Griner:

https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/04/politics/brittney-griner-letter-biden-white-house/index.html

River rescue:

https://www.sacbee.com/news/nation-world/national/article263161783.html

NASA: