Gee and Ursula’s top stories: Mass shooting at Highland Park, more mask mandates

MyNorthwest is bringing you highlights from the top stories and discussions from the Gee and Ursula Show July 6: Hosts Gee and Ursula discuss the Highland Park Massacre, Pierce County Sheriff Ed Troyer’s $100,000 bail, and the uneasiness behind more mask mandates.

Highland Park Massacre killed 7

The 21-year-old man accused of killing seven people and injuring dozens more at a 4th of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois has confessed to the crimes. Prosecutors just made that announcement during his first court appearance this morning.

CBS’ Kris Van Cleave says the suspect has been charged with seven counts of first-degree murder.

“He spayed more than 70 rounds down upon hundreds of people watching Highland Park’s Fourth of July parade,” Van Cleave said. “Seven were killed, 38 others were wounded, including at least four children.”

Natalie Lorentz was at the parade and she said her first instinct was to protect her children from the bloodshed all around her.

“People had been shot and we were trying to shield the kids from it so they didn’t see. I feel like I’m still in shock I feel like I’m still in complete panic mode,” Lorentz said.

Lorentz and her family were sitting next to a 2-year-old boy who was at the parade with his parents. His mom and dad were killed in the gunfire.

“It used to be a freak occurrence, but now it’s commonplace,” Lorentz said. “This is a fact of life. This is the world we are living in, raising our kids in, and it’s not okay.”

Ed Troyer posts massive bail

It was a tough 4th of July weekend for Pierce County Sheriff Ed Troyer, who was ordered to post $100,000 bail last Friday. A Kitsap County judge determined he had violated the conditions of his release on two criminal charges.

Troyer is facing trial on charges of a false report when he called 911, claiming Sedrick Altheimer, a newspaper delivery driver, tried to kill him. He had been ordered to stay away from Altheimer, but the State Attorney General’s Office says he violated that order on several occasions by following Altheimer and flashing his lights while he was doing his paper route.

Troyer’s attorney says the Sheriff’s only interaction with Altheimer was when he was parked outside his elderly father’s house and Altheimer pulled up to deliver a newspaper.

The criminal case against Troyer is scheduled to begin on October 31.

More mask mandates on the horizon?

Are mask mandates coming back? The CDC is recommending that people in six Washington counties start wearing masks indoors in public and on public transportation again.

Thurston, Lewis, Pacific, Grays Harbor, Garfield, and Spokane Counties all have COVID-19 community levels rated “high,” meaning they have had 200 or more new cases per 100,000 people in the last seven days, or they’ve had more than 20 new COVID-19 hospital admissions per 100,000 people within a seven-day period.

The CDC has put Pierce County at “high” COVID risk, but the local health department disputes this label, saying the county is in the “medium” risk level.

Listen to Gee Scott and Ursula Reutin weekday mornings from 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.