Topeka native, security consultant describes the aftermath of the Highland Park shooting scene
Topeka native Doug M. Cummings rushed to the scene of a mass shooting in a Chicago suburb moments after gunfire forced those attending a downtown Independence Day parade to flee.
Authorities said at least six people died and 30 were wounded in the mass shooting at Highland Park, Ill., which sits along Lake Michigan and is located about 30 miles north of downtown Chicago.
Cummings, 69, lives in Highland Park about a 10-minute drive from where the shooting took place, he said.
"It was pretty horrific," he said in a telephone interview.
Topeka native was Shawnee County sheriff's deputy and WIBW reporter
Cummings said he graduated in 1970 from Topeka High School and in 1975 from Washburn University. He served as a Shawnee County sheriff's deputy and worked as a TV and radio journalist in Topeka and later in Chicago.
For the past 12 years, Cummings said he has operated a one-man security consulting company, which primarily serves churches. He also writes fiction books.
Cummings said he went to the scene immediately after Monday's mass shooting to take video and gather information for a YouTube video he's creating to help get the word out about his company.
He said he talked to about a dozen people, including a physician who told him that the wounds the victims suffered were "like what you would see in wartime."
Some of those hit had been watching the parade from in front of a pancake house, where shoes, chairs, water bottles and blankets remained at the scene, Cummings said.
"There was a lot of blood," he said.
Security consultant urges people to always have 'security mindset'
Monday's shooting was different from most in that it occurred at a time and place where law enforcement officers were already at the scene, providing traffic and crowd control, Cummings said.
After the shooting started, others responded to the point where at least 500 law enforcement officers were present, he said.
Cummings said Monday's incident illustrates that people need to have a "security mindset" and be situationally aware of what's happening around them.
He encourages people attending such events as parades to make a plan regarding where they'll run if something like a mass shooting takes place.
Situations such as Monday's mass shooting are probably "the worst type of situation you can be in, because cover is going to be hard to find," Cummings said.
"If you're near a car, get under the car, put your kids under a car," he said. "If the shooting is coming from up above, get into a building if you can."
Fortunately, stores in downtown Highland Park were open during Monday's mass shooting, which gave people a place where they could run, Cummings said.
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Cummings said he's been present at thousands of crime scenes, including that of Colorado's 1999 Columbine massacre in which 15 people died, but none of those was quite like Monday's in terms of "the scene I could see."
Initial indications were that the shooter, who remained at large Monday afternoon, fired from atop the roof of a business building, Cummings said.
Monday's Independence Day parade was Highland Park's first since the COVID-19 pandemic, Cummings said.
Tim Hrenchir can be reached at threnchir@gannett.com or 785-213-5934.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: A former Topeka resident describes Chicago-area parade shooting scene
