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Photo: Lynn Sweet/AP
Shots were fired at an Independence Day parade in Illinois on Monday.
"We are assisting the Highland Park Police Department after shots were fired during the pageant," state police said.
Local media reported several casualties.
Authorities in Highland Park, north of Chicago, canceled the Independence Day celebration and urged residents to avoid downtown.
Brad Schneider, who represents the state of Illinois in the House of Representatives, was in the Lake Michigan city when the shots rang out.
"My team and I had just met at the beginning of the parade when the shots were fired," Schneider said on Twitter after he had fled to safety.
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dam/ptz/dpa/Reuters
