Cory Provus was having breakfast with his parents in his hometown of Highland Park, Illinois when the parade shooting happened.
Provus, who was in town to call the Twins/White Sox for Minnesota radio, had taken the time to visit with his parents. They live in Highland Park which is about thirty miles north of Guaranteed Rate Field.
It was there that Provus got a phone call from his brother saying there was an active shooter a mile and a half away at the town’s Fourth of July parade downtown.
Provus told his story to KARE 11 in Minneapolis.
“He said there was a live shooter at the Fourth of July parade downtown. And I said, ‘what?‘” Provus recalled. “Within minutes, we could hear sirens and helicopters.”
Provus had family at the parade. His sister-in-law’s mother attended but reported herself safe.
“My parents would bring me in my stroller and we’d sit there with the music and the floats and the food, and it was what July 4th was all about,” Provus said recalled of his history with the event. “It was about family and celebrating, and today it turned into tragedy. It really is sad what took place.”
The game between the Twins and the White Sox did go on as planned. The White Sox took time to hold a moment of silence before the game.
“That will hit me pretty hard. Once the game starts, the amazing thing about this sport is it does bring people together,” Provus said. “Once we get through the moment of silence, through the national anthem, and the first pitch is thrown by Johnny Cueto and hopefully Luis Arráez hits a double down the right field line, then that sadness I think will turn into a smile, for just about three hours. Real life will be on pause and we’ll watch a baseball game and hopefully the Twins prevail tonight.”
But his hometown of Highland Park will never be far from his mind.
“Am I taken aback that I can’t believe that this happened in downtown Highland Park? No. Because that’s our world today. With the gun laws that we have in our country, they’re going to keep happening. That, to me, is a problem, and those are my feelings on it,” Provus said. “I know people watching it right now probably will disagree, and if so, you’re entitled to your beliefs, I’m entitled to mine. But to say, ‘I can’t believe this happened in Highland Park, Illinois,’ I think is just flat-out naïve.”
