A Woman Was Shot in the Face in Illinois, and People’s Responses Were Ridiculous

Yesterday, just hours after the latest mass shooting that killed six people and injured over 20 others at a 4th of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois, a young woman wounded in the fray took to Twitter to share a disturbing photograph and video of her bloodied face.

“I cant fucking believe i was in the middle of a mass shooting. ive felt safe at this parade for 18 years and today i got hit with a bullet and nothing will change in america this is ridiculous,” wrote the user, who calls herself Lilli. The viral tweet was accompanied by a photograph that shows her neck and face covered in blood.

She also posted a video of the gaping gash on her cheek, writing: “TW BLOOD please dont go to parades today i do not trust anything right now.” Later that evening, she shared another post that showed more blood on her clothes and shoes, as well as a police officer interviewing her in the hospital.

Lilli is among dozens of witnesses who turned to social media after the shooting to vent their frustrations about the nation’s deadly gun violence record. Another, Hunter Stuart, wrote that after he was separated from his wife, he and his two small daughters were forced to flee the scene and shelter with a good samaritan for five hours. But it’s Lilli’s post that garnered the most polarizing commentary from both conservatives and liberals.

“I am sorry this happened to you and to everyone else there. It’s awful and these shootings just keep coming at us. Please register to vote if you haven’t already. Tell your friends too. Your generation is our last hope,” Ann Brenoff, who, according to her bio, is a former senior writer and editor at HuffPost, fruitlessly offered. Meanwhile, conservatives were quick to accuse Lilli of being a “propaganda crisis actor”—which is what they called the survivors of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida in 2018.

Inevitably, federal lawmakers also weighed in on the latest mass shooting—the 11th since the start of July.

“I’m so happy you’re alive. I’m so sorry this happened. I’ll do more to stop this from happening again. But I know it will. We cannot stop working until we ban and buy-back assault weapons, require background checks, and have red flag laws. We have to change America, Lilli.” replied Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA).

“After listening to the videos captured at Highland Park, I thought to myself: the last time I heard a weapon with that capacity firing that rapidly on a Fourth of July was in Iraq. It was not on American soil. We can and we must and we will do better.” added Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL).

Naturally, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) also had something to say, posting a blatantly photoshopped image of the shooter, Robert E. Crimo III, reading the bible in a jail cell, and asking what “drugs or psychiatric drugs or both” he might using while calling for the release of his “records”—any and all of them. Because in case she hasn’t made it perfectly clear, firearms are not the cause of innumerable mass shootings.

According to the Gun Violence Archive, an independent data collection organization, at least 309 shootings have occurred over the last 26 weeks. Time and time again, voting, better attention to “mental health,” and an increase in police have shown to be non-starters. It should go without writing that at this rate, any response that isn’t banning assault rifles is not only worthless, it’s detestable.