In virtually every mass shooting case, there are signs that people missed or to which they didn’t respond.
Robert Crimo III is the Highland Park suspect. One has to ask, once again, why he could post so many problems on his social media. There was much more.
According to Highland Park police, they were in two previous encounters.
April 2019: Suicide attempt
Sept 2019, Crimo threatened everyone, according to family members. The police took 16 knives, one dagger, and a sword from Crimo’s home but didn’t find any probable cause for him to be arrested. pic.twitter.com/wWBi9IGivp
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) July 5, 2022
Lake County Sheriff’s Department Deputy Chief Christopher Covelli laid out some of Crimo’s troubling history.
In September 2019, family members reported that Crimo threatened to “kill everyone” and that he had a collection of knives, Covelli said. Highland Park police arrived at the scene and found 16 knives and a knife, as well as a blade and a dagger inside the residence. Police notified Illinois State Police of the matter, but otherwise didn’t have probable cause to make an arrest, authorities said.
An ISP spokeswoman said that at that time, Crimo did not have a firearm owner’s identification card, required for the purchase of firearms, to revoke or review.
In April 2019, officers were summoned by police after Crimo attempted suicide a week before. Police determined that Crimo was in the care of mental health professionals.
But when he applied for a firearms card in 2019, his father signed for him and the Illinois State Police didn’t see the threats as enough of a reason to withhold it from him because the family didn’t press charges.
Because the family did not press charges at the time of the Sept 2019 death threats, ISP says that when they were reviewing Crimo III’s FOID card application in Jan 2020, “there was insufficient basis to establish a clear and present danger and deny the FOID application.” @axios
— Monica Eng (@monicaeng) July 5, 2022
However, it is unclear what these responsibilities will be once the applicant turns 21
— Monica Eng (@monicaeng) July 5, 2022
That was an inaccurate assessment. I think that the decision to make that judgment is going back on both the father and the Illinois State Police.
Crimo was legally able to obtain the gun used in the shooting. When Crimo was arrested the police discovered another gun in Crimo’s car. After he was arrested, the police found another gun in his car. It was believed that he had been planning the move for some time.
Illinois has red-flag laws. You don’t need more laws here, you need people to properly evaluate the signs that they see and take proper action.