U.S. Society's Misfits and Psychopaths and Guns

Chairs, bicycles, strollers and balloons were left behind at the scene of the mass shooting in Highland Park.

"For each individual that was hurt, people can anticipate an attempted murder charge as well as an aggravated battery with a firearm charge." 

"Every time he fires a bullet at an individual, he is committing aggravated discharge of a weapon, whether he hit someone or not."

"There will be many more charges coming in the coming weeks."

Lake County State's Attorney Eric Rinehart  

"[Crimo saw] a celebration that was occurring ... and he seriously contemplated using the firearm he had in his vehicle to commit another shooting in Madison."

"We don't have information to suggest he planned on driving to Madison initially to commit another attack. [But] we do believe that he was driving around following the first attack and saw the celebration."

"Indications are that he hadn't put enough thought or research into it."

"However, he had some type of affinity towards the numbers 4 and 7, and the inverse was 7/4 [referring to Monday's date, July 4. Crimo's affinity] comes from music that he's interested in." 

Lake County Major Crime Task Force spokesperson Chris Covelli 

A man accused of opening fire on a Fourth of July parade near Chicago has been charged with seven counts of murder.  Getty Images

A gunman, identified as 22-yar-old Robert Crimo,who chose an Independence Day parade in a suburb of Chicago to attack American citizens celebrating their nation's annual day of independence, killed seven of those parade-goers, and injured another 30 people, randomly, indiscriminately, but happened to choose a heavily Jewish-occupied enclave for his murderous attack. He had at his disposal two high-powered rifles and three additional weapons.

In 2019, police were called to his home on two occasions when he had threatened to commit suicide along with violence against others. A family member had called an emergency line saying Crimo had threatened "to kill everyone" present at the home. On that occasion police confiscated ten knives, a dagger and a sword. No guns were seen on the premises at that time.

A year later that changed when legal purchases, five firearms in total succeeded in arming him with firepower. After his Highland Park attack, his parents' home was searched and the firearms were recovered. He might not have qualified to obtain an Illinois gun owner's license, given his run-ins with the police the year before. But his father had undertaken, despite his son's violent nature and past threats, to sign for the license.

Effectively enabling his son to mount the July 4 attack when he used a high-powered rifle "similar to an AR-15" in spraying over 70 rounds into a crowd that had gathered for the Highland Park parade on the shore of Lake Michigan. He had positioned himself on a nearby roof from which his presence was difficult to detect. And after the shooting and the frantic melee of people running, desperate to escape death, he dressed in women's clothing and joined the crowd, an unobtrusively innocent bystander.

Investigators have been unable to the present to determine motive, or that his target was race, religion or another possibly offending group. He had left the scene of the carnage he had produced, driving to Madison Wisconsin before returning to the Chicago area. Nine people, aged 14 to 70 remain hospitalized. The dead were Nicolas Toledo from Mexico, Jacki Sundheim, Katherine Goldstein, Irina McCarthy, Kevin McCarthy, and 88-year-old Stephen Straus.

 

A woman views the candles and flowers left the victims of the parade shooting on July 5, 2022 in Highland Park.

"The question this prosecutor's going to have to ask [is] was it reasonably foreseeable that someone who had made a suicide attempt and who had threatened to kill others would lead that person ... to commit the crime against the parade goers."

"And if the answer to that question is yes ... there definitely could be manslaughter charges filed against his dad, who did sign that consent form and gave consent for him to gain access to the high-powered weapon and weapons that were used."

Legal analyst Areva Martin