The man charged with the July 4 massacre in Highland Park has confessed that he fired more than 80 rounds from a rooftop into a crowd of spectators lining the downtown parade route and considered shooting more people in Wisconsin later that day, authorities said Wednesday.

After wounding dozens of people, seven of them fatally, with two rapid bursts from an assault-style rifle, Robert Crimo III fled in his mother’s car and drove to Madison, Lake County officials said.

“He was driving around … he did see a celebration that was occurring in Madison and he seriously contemplated using the firearm he had in his vehicle to commit another shooting,”Lake County Major Crimes Task Force spokesman Christopher Covelli said.

“We don’t have information to suggest he planned on driving to Madison initially to commit another attack,” Covelli said. “We do believe he was driving around from the first attack and saw the celebration.”

FBI officials alerted Madison police that Crimo was in the area. Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said his department mobilized its SWAT team but Crimo was arrested in Lake Forest, about an hour away, before his officers could be deployed.

FBI agents located Crimo’s cellphone at a service station in the Madison suburb of Middleton on Monday, in the dirt at the edge of a parking lot.

Police and prosecutors have so far disclosed no motive for the rampage, but Crimo apparently had an “affinity” for the number 47, which was painted on his car, according to Covelli. Flip the numbers, Covelli said, and you have 7 and 4, the date of the shooting.

The latest details were made public as Crimo appeared by video conference in a Lake County courtroom, charged with seven counts of first-degree murder.

Wearing a black T-shirt, his face framed by long dark hair, Crimo was mostly silent as he stood with his hands in front of him, showing no reaction when Assistant State’s Attorney Ben Dillon recited the names of the seven victims and described the scene from Monday’s shooting.

On the day of the attack, Crimo dressed in “girls’ clothes” and wore makeup to cover his distinctive face tattoos because he feared he would be recognized, Dillon said. Surveillance video shows Crimo walking down an alley behind a building at the northwest corner of Central Avenue and Second Street and climbing a fire escape to reach the roof.

“The defendant relayed to investigators that he looked down his sights, aimed and opened fire at people across the street,” Dillion said. Crimo said he fired a full 30-round magazine from the rifle, then a second and third magazine.

Police found 83 shell casings. Nearly 50 people were hit by gunfire. Five died at the scene, and a sixth died later Monday at a hospital. A seventh victim died at Evanston Hospital, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Despite his disguise, police officers who “were familiar” with Crimo were able to identify him in still images taken from surveillance cameras after the shooting, Dillon said.

Video shows Crimo running down the alley with a black bag over his shoulder. A rifle, a Smith & Wesson M&P15 semi-automatic wrapped in a cloth, fell from the bag as Crimo ran. Police recovered the weapon within minutes and traced it to Crimo, who had purchased the weapon at “a local gun store” in 2020 when he was 19.

Crimo went to his mother’s nearby home and took off in her car as police launched a manhunt and neighboring towns canceled their Independence Day festivities, police said. In Madison, he spotted a group of people and thought about shooting them with a second rifle in the car, Covelli said Wednesday after the bond hearing.

Crimo had about 60 rounds in the car with him, but he apparently felt he hadn’t put enough “thought and research” into opening fire, Covelli said.

He turned back, dumped his cellphone in Middleton and was finally spotted Monday evening in North Chicago, about eight hours after the shooting. He was arrested around 5:30 p.m.after a brief car chase.

At a press conference in Madison, Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway called for state and federal legislators to pass stricter gun laws.

“This time the shooter wreaked havoc in Highland Park and drove to Madison. Next time it could be anywhere,” she said. “On his way here he drove past hundreds of communities celebrating the Fourth of July. All of us are at risk when weapons of war are on our streets.”

Crimo had been able to buy the weapon even though just months earlier police had been called to his house after a family member reported he was threatening to “kill everybody.” Officers removed 16 knives, a dagger and a sword from the home during the September 2019 incident.Police filed a “clear and present danger report” with the Illinois State Police.

In December of that year, Crimo’s father sponsored Crimo’s application for a Firearm Owner Identification card because he was too young to get the license without permission. Crimo was issued a FOID card in January, despite the 2019 report to the state police.

Police seized a total of five firearms, all legally purchased by Crimo, including the alleged murder weapon and the second rifle that Crimo had with him in the car when he was arrested Monday evening after a brief chase that ended in Lake Forest, about 10 miles from the shooting scene.

Crimo was charged on Tuesday as officials began releasing the names of the dead: Katherine Goldstein, 64; Irina McCarthy, 35; Kevin McCarthy, 37; Jacqueline Sundheim, 63; Stephen Straus, 88, all of Highland Park; and Nicolas Toledo, 78, of Morelos, Mexico. Tuesday morning, Eduardo Uvaldo, 69, of Waukegan, died at Evanston Hospital.

Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart said the investigation remains active and asked for witnesses and anyone with video from the shooting to come forward.

Crimo’s bond hearing began with confusion over who was representing him.

Defense attorney Thomas Durkin — who has represented terrorism suspects imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay — had said Tuesday he would represent Crimo. But on Wednesday, he told Judge Theodore Potkonjak that family members made him aware of a conflict of interest that would prevent him from taking Crimo as a client.

Assistant Public Defender Gregory Ticsay was appointed to represent Crimo at the hearing, and after a brief conference with his client said he would not immediately oppose the no-bond request from prosecutors.

Crimo’s next court appearance is set for July 28.

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MILWAUKEE — Oops, they did it again.

The runaway-train Cubs — where the heck did this come from? — just can’t stop winning series.

Since a 10-game losing streak completely buried them in the standings, the Cubs have won five series and lost only one — and their improbable series winning streak reached four Wednesday with a 2-1 victory against the Brewers in the finale of a three-game set.

Outplaying the Braves, the Cardinals, the Red Sox and now the National League Central leaders? You have to admit, it’s kind of impressive.

The Cubs also won a series against the Reds in this stretch, which is sort of like beating a boxer with two broken hands via split decision. And they lost three of four against the Pirates, which is sort of like bending over to pick up a quarter and splitting your $100 pants.

All together, though, an 11-8 stretch starting in mid-June has been a pleasure and a pick-me-up — even if it doesn’t really mean much of anything in the context of the rest of the season, with the Aug. 2 trade deadline looming and the Cubs (34-48) all but certain to toy with fans’ emotions all over again.

“We’ve been in almost every game all the way along,” manager David Ross said, “with a couple extra-inning games that we didn’t pull out. If not [for that], we’d be on a long little roll here.”

It was enough to give the Cubs the idea they could send Adrian Sampson (Cubs wins: one, in 2021) to the mound against Corbin Burnes (Cy Youngs: one, in 2021) and snag another “W” in a rubber match.

The Brewers (47-37) had every reason to win this game. Burnes was at his lights-out best, striking out 10 in seven scoreless innings. Left fielder Keston Hiura made one of the plays of the year in the big leagues, running down a P.J. Higgins drive in deep left and crashing face-first into the wall — at full speed — in the top of the fifth. Hiura then led off the bottom of the inning and launched a 440-foot rocket off Sampson for a 1-0 lead.

But Sampson held his own, lasting two outs into the sixth. Rookie Christopher Morel tripled to right-center — missing a homer by maybe 2 inches — in the eighth and came home on a Rafael Ortega single, with both hits coming off reliever Brad Boxberger, who’d had 10 scoreless outings in a row. And then the Cubs got to money-in-the-bank lefty Josh Hader in the ninth, a major feat all by itself. Patrick Wisdom took a leadoff walk, stole second and scored on P.J. Higgins’ one-out double to right.

“I didn’t quite barrel it,” Higgins said, “but a knock’s a knock. I’ll take it.”

Who are these no-name dudes? How are they pulling this off?

“Everyone feels it,” Sampson said. “We want to win each series. Two out of three, three out of four, something like that. You don’t have to talk about it, but it’s something everyone feels. I was happy to get the ball in Game 3. I was like, ‘I want to win the series today.’ That’s all I was thinking. I know everybody was feeling the same way.”

It was a fun series. In certain moments, it almost felt like a big series. Ross went so far as to say that some of these recent games — the wins against teams with postseason aspirations, teams that will be buyers and not sellers up until the trade deadline — have had playoff vibes.

Really? Playoffs? These Cubs? That’s a pretty big stretch considering they’re not going to come anywhere close to a winning record in the end.

“I don’t care about the outside expectations,” Ross said. “I don’t care about the expectations from anyone outside of this small circle that we have as the Cubs organization. If it gets to a place where we’re not expecting to win on a daily basis or get better, or hold those standards to competing and trying to become a championship baseball team again, then I don’t want to do this.”

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MONTREAL –The Blackhawks unveiled their final draft board to their entire scouting department for the first time Wednesday, just over 24 hours before the draft begins Thursday night.

In reality, though, the board had been set and well-known by general manager Kyle Davidson and scouting director Mike Doneghey since May.

“We just sat on it and showed it to the group today, and went over new information and where agents and advisors of players thought their players would go,” Doneghey said Wednesday.

“The agents are like, ‘From what I’m hearing, ‘Player X’ is going to go between five and 10, or six and 12.’ It lets Kyle and [associate GM Norm Maciver] get a little bit of a snapshot, if they’re thinking of making any moves, know what types of players they could get in those ranges. If it was up to the agents, there’d be 55 players who’d go in the first round. They overvalue — which is fine, it’s their job –but it’s our job to read through all that.”

At the moment, Doneghey is sitting in limbo, with the Hawks not currently holding any picks higher than 38th –which’ll take place during the second round Friday — but actively looking to acquire a first-rounder. He’s just waiting for a call from Davidson.

Meanwhile, Davidson — with his intentions clear to everyone –is making and receiving plenty of calls from other GMs around the league. Trading Alex DeBrincat is by far the most likely way he’ll forge into the first round, although there could be alternatives.

“[There’s] lots of talk, lots of calls and due diligence,” Davidson said. “I’d preferably like to get in the first round, but if there’s nothing there that makes sense for us, I’m not going to be disappointed about it.”

“You do get a lot of calls. But people know pretty quickly if there’s going to be a fit or not…and you hear the most from the same couple teams, over and over again. It has really distilled down to a few teams the last little while, because they know what they want, so we’ll see if it rises to the level of getting something done.”

Davidson steered well wide of giving away any specifics of his negotiations, but publicly, the Devils (holding the No. 2 pick), Flyers (No. 5 pick) and Senators (No. 7 pick) are considered the most likely suitors for DeBrincat.

The Devils’ situation will be dramatically affected by the Canadiens’ decision with the No. 1 pick; Canadiens GM Kent Hughes told reporters Monday he was still undecided between three prospects (Shane Wright, Juraj Slafkovsky and Logan Cooley). Rumors involving the Flyers have cooled lately. The Senators cleared salary cap space Tuesday by buying out forward Colin White, and Senators GM Pierre Dorion told reporters Wednesday there’s a “50-50” chance he trades the seventh pick.

If the Hawks do acquire a first-round pick, Davidson insisted he’d take the best player available, whether forward or defenseman, despite the heavy defensive lean of the Hawks’ existing prospect pool.

And no matter what happens, Thursday at the Bell Centre will be a significant night for Davidson, conducting his first draft as an NHL GM. It’s the same building where he attended the 2009 NHL draft as a senior in college.

“I paid my own way, I drove down here from Sudbury, [Ontario,] thinking, ‘Oh, I’ll go to the draft and meet some people, get a job in hockey,'” he said. “It didn’t work that way, but I tried.”

Thirteen years later, he’ll not only be sitting on the arena floor, but also be one of the most-watched GMs in the league.

RFA puzzle

Davidson said Wednesday the Hawks have talked to the agents for all of their restricted free agents, starting contract negotiations with some of them and seeking to explore trade options for others.

The Hawks’ RFA list includes Kirby Dach, Dylan Strome, Dominik Kubalik, Philipp Kurashev, Caleb Jones, Wyatt Kalynuk and several other minor-leaguers. Strome and Kubalik are likely to be either traded or allowed to walk into unrestricted free agency, whereas most or all of the others will likely return.

“The RFA trade market is not the most fruitful market,” Davidson said. “Maybe that’s something that will come on the draft floor.”

Davidson also said he expects to have a “much better handle on” the Hawks’ goaltending plans for next season after the next 24 hours. Kevin Lankinen and Collin Delia are both pending UFAs. Maple Leafs goalie Petr Mrazek and Senators goalie Matt Murray, two overpaid veterans, could be options that’d come with additional sweeteners.

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Robert Crimo III has confessed to firing more than 80 shots from a roof during Highland Park’s July 4 parade, killing seven and wounding dozens, and has told investigators he thought about firing at a group of people in Wisconsin hours later but decided against it, officials said Wednesday.

“He was driving around … he did see a celebration that was occurring in Madison and he seriously contemplated using the firearm he had in his vehicle to commit another shooting,” Lake County Major Crimes Task Force spokesman Christopher Covelli said.

“We don’t have information to suggest he planned on driving to Madison initially to commit another attack,” Covelli sad. “We do believe he was driving around from the first attack and saw the celebration.”

Police and prosecutors have so far disclosed no motive for the rampage, but Crimo apparently had an “affinity” for the number 47, which was painted on his car, according to Covelli. Flip the numbers, Covelli said, and you have 7 and 4, the date of the shooting.

The disclosures came after Assistant State’s Atty. Ben Dillon told a judge during a bond hearing Wednesday morning that Crimo, 21, has made “a voluntary statement confessing to his actions.” The judge denied bail.

Wearing a black collarless T-shirt that showed a tattoo of a rose winding around his neck, Crimo was silent for most of the hearing and showed no reaction as Dillon recited the names of the seven victims and described the scene from Monday’s massacre.

On the day of the attack, Crimo dressed in women’s clothes and wore makeup to disguise himself and hide his tattoos because he feared he would be recognized.

Dillon said Crimo admitted that he took a position on the roof of a building overlooking the parade route and “looked down his sights and opened fire.” Crimo fired a 30-round magazine, then fired two more. Police found 83 shell casings on the roof, Dillon said.

Five people died at the scene, and a sixth died later at a hospital. A seventh victim died Tuesday afternoon. In all, more than two dozen people were hit by gunfire, Dillon said.

After firing off nearly all of the ammunition he had, Crimo climbed back down and ran away but dropped the rifle, Dillon said.

The gun was traced to Crimo within an hour. It had been legally bought by Crimo in 2020 when he was 19. Authorities say his father had to sponsor him to get a Firearm Owners Identification card because the age limit is 21.

Despite his disguise, police officers who “were familiar” with Crimo were able to identify him in still images taken from surveillance cameras, Dillon said.

Crimo went to his mother’s house nearby and took off in her car as police launched a manhunt and neighboring towns canceled their Independence Day festivities, police say.

Crimo made it as far as the Madison area, where he spotted a group of people and thought about shooting them with a second rifle in the car, Covelli said. Crimo had about 60 rounds in the car with him, but he apparently felt he hadn’t put enough “thought and research” into opening fire, Covelli said.

He turned back, dumped his cellphone in Middleton, Wis. and was finally spotted Monday evening in North Chicago, about eight hours after the shooting. He was arrested around 6:30 p.m. after a short chase at an intersection about 10 miles from the shooting.

Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said he was “are deeply troubled to learn the suspected Illinois parade shooter considered carrying out another attack here in Madison. We feel for the grieving families in Highland Park and all those forever impacted by the events of Monday’s shooting. We recognize tragedy very well could have taken place in our own community.”

Barnes said his department was “waiting to hear more information about the facts of the case from our law enforcement partners. Mass shootings are far too common in our country.”

Crimo faces seven counts of first-degree murder, the first of what Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart said would be “dozens” more charges filed against Crimo from Monday’s shooting.

Rinehart announced the charges Tuesday, a few hours after Lake County Coroner Jennifer Banek released the names of six of the people who died: Katherine Goldstein, 64; Irina McCarthy, 35; Kevin McCarthy, 37; Jacqueline Sundheim, 63; Stephen Straus, 88, all of Highland Park, and Nicolas Toledo, 78, of Morelos, Mexico.

Rinehart said the investigation remains active, and asked for witnesses and anyone with video from the shooting to come forward.

Crimo has no prior criminal record in Cook or Lake counties. But officers twice visited his home in 2019 to investigate calls from family members, according to police.

The first time was in April 2019, in response to a report of a suicide attempt by Crimo. Then in September of that year, a family member called to report Crimo had threatened to “kill everybody” and that he had a large collection of knives.

Police took 16 knives, a dagger and a sword from the home and filed a “clear and present danger report” with the Illinois State Police.

Nevertheless, the state police issued a Firearm Owners Identification card to Crimo in January 2020 when he was 19. He was too young to get a card on his own (the minimum age in Illinois is 21), so his father sponsored him, which is allowed under state law.

Police recovered five weapons in all from Crimo, including the rifle recovered at the scene and a second one found in his car at the time of his arrest. Several handguns were found in his home, all purchased legally from sellers in Illinois, police said.

Wednesday’s bond hearing began with confusion over who was representing Crimo. Attorney Thomas Durkin had indicated Tuesday that he was taking the case, but when Crimo was asked if he had a lawyer, he responded, “No, I do not have a lawyer.”

As assistant public defender, Gregory Ticsay, was assigned to confer with Crimo. When they returned, Ticsay said Durkin planned to attend but was unable to immediately enter the Zoom hearing.

Ticsay complained that Durkin was “wasting my client’s time,” and the proceedings continued with Ticsay representing Crimo and the prosecutor detailing the case against Crimo.

Durkin finally appeared just before the judge ruled on a request for no bail, saying a “personal conflict” kept him from representing Crimo. “He is going to need the public defender,” Durkin said.

Ticsay said he would not oppose a no bail order “at this time.”

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