More than five months after his son opened fire on a July 4th parade in Highland Park, Illinois, Robert E. Crimo Jr. is being charged with reckless conduct for helping his son purchase the guns and ammunition used in the Highland Park parade shooting – the same guns that left 7 people dead and 48 others injured.
When the suspect was just 19 years old, Crimo Jr. sponsored the teenager’s application for a Firearm Owners Identification (FOID) – allowing him to purchase an AR-15-type semi-automatic weapon and ammunition. Two years later, when the suspect was 21 years old, he opened fire on innocent civilians.
In the months following the brutal attack, we’re learning that Crimo Jr. sponsored the application despite being aware of previous threats made by his son – most of which were targeted towards family or friends. Crimo Jr. is being charged with seven counts of reckless conduct and is facing up to 3 years in prison.
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This comes more than five months after Crimo Jr. tried to wipe his hands free of any guilt back in July – just days after the shooting took place. In an effort to dispel the rumors that he helped his son buy weapons, Crimo Jr. maintained that his son bought the guns ‘on his own, and they’re registered to him.’
The father also opened up about a conversation he had with his son the night before the shooting occurred – 13 hours before, to be exact. His son brought up a shooting that happened in Denmark, telling his father that the shooter was ‘an idiot’ and just wanted to ‘amp up the people that want to ban all guns.’
According to authorities, Crimo Jr. was agreeing to being “liable for any damages resulting from the minor applicant’s use of firearms or firearm ammunition” when he signed his son’s application to own guns – which is the whole point of the application in the first place. Despite that, he’s maintaining innocence.
“This decision should alarm every single parent in the [USA] who according to the Lake County State’s Attorney knows exactly what is going on with their 19 year old adult children and can be held criminally liable for actions taken nearly three years later,” said Crimo Jr.’s lawyer, calling the charges ‘absurd.’
Remembering the Lives Lost During the Highland Park Parade Shooting
The Highland Park parade shooting happened at approximately 10:15 a.m. on July 4th – just as residents were beginning to celebrate the holiday with an annual Independence Day parade. Crimo III gained an advantage from an elevated position after climbing up an unsecured ladder on a nearby building.
Gunfire rang through the neighborhood for several minutes before coming to an end – right as police officers began closing in on the shooter’s location. Five people were pronounced dead at the scene, while another two victims passed away at the hospital due to gunshot wounds sustained during the shooting.
The seven victims who passed away included five from Highland Park – Katherine Goldstein, 64, Irina McCarthy, 35 and her husband Kevin McCarthy, 37, Stephen Straus, 88, and Jacquelyn “Jacki” Sundheim, 63. The other two victims were Nicolas Toledo-Zaragoza, 78, and Eduardo Uvaldo, 69.
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In addition to the seven that were killed, another 48 victims were injured in the attack. Crimo III was eventually apprehended, but it took an eight-hour manhunt to find him. He has since been charged with 21 counts of first-degree murder, 48 counts of attempted murder, and 48 counts of aggravated battery.