The man accused of killing seven people at a Chicago-area Fourth of July parade skirted the safeguards of an Illinois “red flag” law designed to prevent people deemed to have violent tendencies from obtaining guns, they revealed. officials on Tuesday.
The revelations raised questions about the adequacy of the state’s “red flag” laws, even as a prosecutor praised the system as “strong” during a news conference announcing seven first-degree murder charges against the 21-year-old suspect. Robert, E. Crimo III.
Sgt. Chris Covelli of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office said earlier in the day that Crimo had legally purchased a total of five guns, including the suspected murder weapon, despite coming to the attention of law enforcement twice. for behavior that suggested he might harm himself or others.
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The first instance was a 911 emergency call in April 2019 reporting that Crimo had attempted suicide, followed in September of that year by a police visit regarding alleged threats to “kill everyone” he had directed at family members, Covelli said.
According to Covelli, police responding to the second incident seized a collection of 16 knives, a dagger and a sword from Crimo’s home in Highland Park, Illinois, the Chicago suburb where the shooting occurred Monday. But no arrest was made as authorities at the time lacked probable cause to detain him, the sheriff’s Sgt.
“There were no complaints signed by any of the victims,” Covelli explained.
Later Tuesday came a separate statement from the Illinois State Police recounting that the agency had received a report from Highland Park Police declaring Crimo a “clear and present danger” after alleged threats against family members. in September 2019.
At the time, however, Crimo did not possess a state “firearms owners identification (FOID)” card that could be revoked or a pending FOID request to deny. So state police involvement in the matter was shut down, the agency said.
State police also said no relatives or anyone else was willing to “move forward with a formal complaint” or provide “threat or mental health information that would have allowed law enforcement to take further action.”
Three months later, at age 19, Crimo applied for his first FOID card, under his father’s sponsorship. But because a firearms restraining order or other court action had never been requested against Crimo, “there was insufficient basis to establish a clear and present danger and deny the FOID request,” state police said.
Crimo passed four background checks on his gun purchases, all conducted in 2020 and 2021, long after the 2019 incidents that came to police attention, according to state police.
State police said the only crime detected on Crimo’s criminal history during background checks was for illegal possession of tobacco in 2016, and “mental health ban reports” from health care providers never surfaced.
State police said when officers visiting the family’s home for Crimo’s alleged threats in September 2019, they asked him “if he felt like harming himself or others,” and he “answered no.” .
“Furthermore and more importantly, the father claimed that the knives were his and that they were stored in (his son’s) locker for safekeeping,” state police said. “Based on that information, Highland Park Police returned the knives to the father later that afternoon.”
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Several US politicians from both parties have called for the broader enactment and enforcement of “red flag” laws, which typically allow courts to issue restraining orders that allow authorities to seize firearms from people or prevent them from buying weapons, when deemed to pose a significant threat to themselves or others.
But Reinhart, the state attorney who charged Crimo on Tuesday, was unable to explain how Crimo could be allowed to legally obtain guns without the alleged 2019 threat and “clear and present danger” report triggering “flag” measures. red” of the state.
Last month, Congress passed a national gun reform bill that includes provisions to provide federal funds to states that administer red flag statutes.
— Reporting by Brendan O’Brien in Highland Park, Ill., Additional Writing and Reporting, and Steve Gorman in Los Angeles