Shooting breaks out at July 4th parade in Chicago suburb of Highland Park

Six people were killed and about two dozen were injured in a shooting at a Fourth of July parade in the wealthy Chicago suburb of Highland Park on Monday, officials said, as panicked spectators fled the scene.

Officials told a news conference that six people were killed and 24 taken to hospital, and that a rifle was recovered from the scene.

"Law enforcement agencies are searching for the suspect; evidence of a firearm has been recovered," the city of Highland Park reported on its website. "Numerous law enforcement officers are responding and have secured a perimeter around downtown Highland Park."

The shooting comes with gun violence fresh on the minds of many Americans, after a massacre on May 24 killed 19 school children and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, and the May 14 attack that killed 10 people at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York.