The Illinois State’s Attorney’s office has accused 21-year-old Highland Park gunman Robert “Bobby” Crimo III with seven counts of first-degree murder.
The day after the July 4 parade shooting, which resulted in the deaths of seven people and the injuries of many more, State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart made the accusations public during a press conference.
The maximum sentence for each offence is life in prison without the possibility of parole.
In his remarks, Rinehart noted that Crimo might be held accountable for over a dozen further offences, such as assault and attempted murder.
He said: ‘These are the first of many charges.’
Rinehart refrained from making any assumptions about the shooting’s motivation during the press conference.
The attorney did advocate for a nationwide prohibition on assault weapons and praised red flag measures.
Police initially claimed that they were unaware of Crimo, but on Tuesday they admitted that they had twice interrogated him in 2019.
The first occurred in April 2019, a week after he made a suicide threat. The second occurred in September 2019 after he threatened to “kill everyone” in his family.
He was not detained, but police did find 16 knives, a dagger, and a sword at his residence.
Instead, he was able to obtain two assault rifles and three other sorts of firearms in Illinois after turning 21.
Why the two earlier occurrences weren’t noted when he legally bought the firearms is still a mystery.
At a news conference on Tuesday in the afternoon, Chris Covelli of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office revealed the earlier events.
Thomas Durkin, a well-known defense attorney, is defending the suspect.
The suspect’s relatives phoned Durkin, according to DailyMail.com, on the day of the shooting and again today.
He continued by saying that, aside from what was already known in the public, he knew nothing else about the shooting.
In the April 2019 incident, ‘an individual contacted Highland Park department a week after learning of him attempting to suicide. It was a delayed report.
‘They responded to the residence, spoke to him, his parents and the matter was being handled with the mental health profession. There was no law enforcement action to be taken.
‘In September 2019, a family remember reported that he said he was going to “kill everyone” and that he had a collection of knives. They responded and took 16 knives and a dagger from his home.
‘There was no probable cause to arrest and no complaints assigned by the victims. They did notify the Illinois State Police.’
Crimo is also accused of ‘sizing up’ the Central Avenue Synagogue in Highland Park, Illinois, according to the Times of Israel.
Rabbi Yosef Schanowitz is quoted by the website as saying that he recognized the suspect from an incident that occurred in April 2022. The rabbi said: ‘During the last Passover holiday, that person entered the Chabad synagogue. We have an armed security guard sitting in front… I approached him and sternly asked him to leave as I noticed he was not a member of our community.’
In a separate interview with Forward.com, the congregation’s head of security Martin Blumenthal said of Crimo: ‘He was definitely sizing up the synagogue.’
Blumenthal said that Crimo was wearing all black clothes and black gloves ‘in the goth style.’ The head of security said that he checked Crimo’s backpack for weapons but didn’t find any.
He added: ‘He said his name was Bobby and he lived in the neighborhood. I watched him the whole time.’ Blumenthal added that Crimo then left on his bike.
Police have still not been able to determine a motive. Crimo is expected to be charged later today.
Six of the seven people that were killed in the shooting have been named. They are Steve Straus, 88; Katherine Baldstein, 64; Jacki Sondheim, 63; Nicholas Toledo Zaragoza, 78; and husband and wife Irina and Kevin McCarthy, 35 and 37.
The McCarthys leave behind a two-year-old son, Aiden, who was found wandering alone in the aftermath of the shooting.
He ran away from the attack on Monday, pretending to be one of the victims, and proceeded to his mother’s house.
She may not have been aware that he was the shooter when he requested for her car, according to the police. He received it from her, and he then ran away.
It happens as concerns about the shooter’s intentions, way of life, and fascination with the number 47 start to surface.
The number 47 is painted on a car’s side and was inked on Crimo’s cheek.
Following an FBI raid on his residence on Tuesday, the car was abandoned in the front yard. Crimo reportedly reposted scary rap songs that glorified school shootings on his social media pages, where he also displayed the number.
His uncle Paul Crimo has recently recalled how he was acting normally on Sunday night. Even though he glorified school massacres in YouTube rap songs, he insists that he displayed “no signs of violence.” The reason behind yesterday’s attack by the shooter is still a mystery.
‘I’m heartbroken. I’m so heartbroken. There were no signs that I saw that would make him do this. He’s a quiet kid. He’s usually on his own. He’s a lonely, quiet person. He keeps everything to himself,’ Paul Crimo, his uncle, told CNN.
In the same interview, Paul Crimo confirmed that his nephew lived in a small apartment behind the house owned by Bob Crimo Jr., along Pleasant Avenue in Highwood.
‘Everything was as normal,’ he said, adding that he was sitting on a recliner in his home the night before the shooting, looking at his computer. We are good people here, and to have this is devastating. I’m so heartbroken for all the families who lost their lives.’
In a separate interview with Fox32, Paul Crimo said: ‘I saw no signs of trouble. And if I did see signs, I would have said something. I’m deeply heartbroken and I’ll be heartbroken for the rest of my life.’
Crimo’s parents have yet to respond to the attack. Bob Sr. unsuccessfully ran for mayor against Nancy Rotering.
Rotering acknowledged on Tuesday morning that Crimo ‘legally obtained’ his weapon. She claimed she taught him as a cub scout and that he was a typical ‘little boy.’ The sort of weapon he used has not been confirmed by police, although witnesses and footage believe it was a high-powered rifle.
‘It’s one of those situations where you stand back and ask, what happened? How did somebody become this angry, this hateful, to then take it out on innocent people who were just literally having a family day out.?
‘He was just a little boy,’ she said.