July 4 parade shooting suspect slipped past Illinois "red flag" safeguards
By: Brendan O'Brien and Steve Gorman
Laws only work if you actually use them as intended.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. (Reuters) - The man charged with killing seven people at a Chicago-area July Fourth parade slipped past the safeguards of an Illinois "red flag" law designed to prevent people deemed to have violent tendencies from getting guns, officials revealed on Tuesday.
The disclosures raised questions about the adequacy of the state's "red flag" laws even as a prosecutor lauded the system as "strong" during a news conference announcing seven first-degree murder charges against the 21-year-old suspect, Robert, E. Crimo III.
Sergeant 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 having come to law enforcement's attention twice for behavior suggesting he might harm himself or others.
The first instance was an April 2019 emergency-911 call reporting Crimo had attempted suicide, followed in September of that year by a police visit regarding alleged threats "to kill everyone" that 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 on Monday. But no arrest was made as authorities at the time lacked probable cause to take him into custody, the sheriff's sergeant said.
"There were no complaints that were signed by any of the victims," Covelli explained.
Later on 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 the alleged threats against relatives in September 2019.
State police also said no relative or anyone else was willing "to move forward with a formal complaint" or to provide "information on threats or mental health that would have allowed law enforcement to take additional action."
BACKGROUND CHECKS PASSED
Three months later, at age 19, Crimo applied for his first FOID card, under his father's sponsorship. But because no firearm restraining order or other court action against Crimo had ever been sought, "there was insufficient basis to establish a clear and present danger and deny the FOID application," state police said.
Crimo passed four background checks in the purchase of his guns, all of them conducted in 2020 and 2021, well after the 2019 incidents that drew police attention, according to the state police.
State police said the only offense detected in Crimo's criminal history during background checks was for unlawful possession of tobacco in 2016, and that "no mental health prohibiter reports" from healthcare providers ever surfaced.
The state police said that when officers who visited the family's home over the alleged threats Crimo made in September 2019, they asked him "if he felt like harming himself or others," and that "he responded 'no'."
"Additionally and importantly, the father claimed the knives were his and they were being stored in (his son's) closet for safekeeping," state police said. "Based upon that information, the Highland Park Police returned the knives to the father later that afternoon."
A number of U.S. politicians in both parties have urged more widespread enactment and enforcement of "red flag" laws, which typically enable courts to issue restraining orders allowing authorities to confiscate firearms from individuals, or to prevent them from buying weapons, when they are deemed to pose a significant threat to themselves or others.
But Reinhart, the state's attorney who charged Crimo on Tuesday, was at a loss to explain how Crimo could be permitted to legally obtain weapons without the alleged 2019 threat and "clear and present danger" report triggering the state's "red flag" measures.
Congress last month passed a national gun reform bill including provisions to provide federal funding to states that administer red flag statutes.
(Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Highland Park, Ill., Writing and additional reporting and Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Robert Birsel)
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Cops at the house a few times and his social media posts............and instead of red, he, unfortunately, got a green flag.
“…and instead of red, he, unfortunately, got a green flag.”
So sad that this is the outcome. Rest assured, more are surely to follow.
Countless and meaningless words spent in defending just what? Just what?
Just what? Exactly, just what are you refereeing to?
“Just what? “
Meaningless thoughts and prayers. Maintaining the unacceptable status quo. Kicking the political can down the road. Talking about the innumerable and inevitable instances while ignoring talking to the problem.
Just what?
We are guaranteed to revisit this same argument, with the same vapid excuses, and with the same insipid deflections in just a matter of daze.
We should be, must be, better than this.
So what should we do?
This falls on law enforcement. It's their responsibility to update records. If no red flags come up when he purchased a firearm, that's all on them.
Absolutely.
16 knives a dagger and a sword oh my.
We need knife, dagger and sword control.
Get on it Underdog ...
The Red Flag rules are often ineffective, because parents will tend to protect their kids and not truthfully admit if their kids have dangerous tendencies. Think of the Crumbleys, the parents of the Oxford school shooter. I read an article that said the uncle of Crimo said he was an angel.
True. In the broad spectrum world of addiction and mental illness, this is called enabling and encompasses many erratic forms of behavior. Parents, siblings, other relatives, neighbors, friends, teachers, and clergy can be potential enablers - often with tragic results.
So much for background checks and red flag laws. Perhaps the idiot father needs to be charged.
I’m sure they thought their little bundle of joy could never hurt anyone.
Another participation trophy generation graduate ......
I don't believe there is any criminal charges that could be brought but, a civil suit will probably follow.
If we're going to start charging people for bad parenting, we'll need 10,000 times as many courtrooms.
Bad parenting is a real thing and you are probably right that the nanny state would be more than we could afford or even manage if we charged every last bad parent. But holding parents accountable for the guns they provide to their red-flagged psycho children should be another thing.
It's my understanding that he didn't supply the guns. He just signed the permission slip for the background check.
That said, the kid clearly had easily recognizable issues long before he shot anybody. He tattooed them on his face, FFS.
Until we as a society start to give a shit about how our boys are raised, we're going to have more of these shootings.
"Additionally and importantly, the father claimed the knives were his and they were being stored in (his son's) closet for safekeeping,"
Sounds like Dad was in either in deep denial mode or just your ordinary everyday ass. I opt for both.
Agree, I haven't see anything about mom yet or if she had a relationship with her son. There won't be any surprise if the picture of a dysfunctional family continues to emerge.
He lives with his dad and uncle. She has moved on but stayed in their former home. Not sure how often they see each other.
Thanks, I don't know when she left or the nature of their relationship. Was she also in denial of the problems her son had, did she fight with his Dad over treatment, is that we she left?
If I remember what I read briefly yesterday, that was actually part of the reason they split. Treatment disagreements and denial. (Note, no projection or deflection involved)
It only takes a viewing of his current photo to see a potentially very disturbed young man. Like in so many other mass shootings, he meets a growingly familiar profile:
If we can't even have enforceable red-flag laws to preclude someone like this from assembling an arsenal, we shouldn't be surprised as the numbers of these incidents grow.
Translation - "We need much stricter enforcement of red flag laws".
Good translation.
Good luck getting by the purveyors of 'slippery slopes'. One such, Lily Tang Williams, has an entire seed dedicated to her this very morning.
If the family doesn't do it, who will?
I am not a big fan of Red Flag Laws because I believe they people might abuse them to get back at someone. But when police or medical professional are involved, I don't know why these records aren't filtering through to the background check system. The background check system needs to be strengthened or expanded to pick these up. There have been a number is instances where it could have stopped a tragedy.
If someone is red flagged it should affect more than buying a gun, it means they are not safe to be on the loose without supervision.
You’re much more trusting than I.
You actually believe red flag laws won’t be weaponized against otherwise law abiding citizens don’t you?
I don’t ..... not with the current state of congress.
That is why I make the point, if they want to take away right to own a gun then there are things the anti- gun group seems to like that also must be restricted,
and no I do not trust this congress at all
Agreed, in concept I think red flag laws are a great idea. In this country, with how screwed up our congress is, it’s a horrible idea. The gun haters would likely screw it up and oppress law abiding citizens that don’t deserve it.
A great example right now ..... veterans with PTSD who won’t report it because of fear of losing their gun rights. Serve your country, lose your gun rights ..... such is the screwed up nature of the beast.
This is an example of what happens when people have children they don't want or don't raise properly
And who's making it more difficult for people to abort children they don't want?
The connection between unwanted children and problems is obvious. They don't see that abortion restrictions end up hurting rights of gun owners.
And he confesses and tells about his other plan for a second "event" in Wisconsin.