No one followed through on the Red Flags for the Highland Park Shooter. Illinois has a Red Flag Law, which didn’t stop Robert Crimo III from killing 7 people on the 4th of July. He confessed to the killings and even confessed to planning another one that he didn’t complete. He appeared in court on Wednesday morning and was placed in custody with no bail. He faces life in prison if convicted. But he was a danger for a long time before July 4th.
Robert Crimo III
The first incident allegedly involved the younger Crimo making suicidal threats. Mental health workers handled the incident without submitting reports to Illinois State Police, the ISP said in a statement.
In the second, he was accused of threatening to kill family members with knives, and police confiscated bladed weapons from the home, according to Chief Deputy Chris Covelli of the Lake County Major Crime Task Force. They were returned to his father later the same day, state police said separately…
Authorities said they had not been provided with enough evidence to take action on any threats or mental health issues, and Crimo was not subjected to a firearms restraining order.
Highland Park Police filed a “Clear and Present Danger” report on the younger Crimo in 2019. No one would move forward with signing a criminal complaint. He did not have a Firearm Owners Identification (FOID) card to revoke or a protective order to violate. He passed background checks 4 times since then because his father sponsored him for a FOID – the identification required in Illinois to purchase a weapon. And since no one placed his mental health report in any database (an issue we’ve discussed numerous times), his background check was clear.
Remember this and take it to heart: no person just randomly wakes up one morning and decides to kill people. It’s a pattern developed over months and years. You can ask any criminal profiler, and they will tell you that. Crimo’s uncle, who lives with them, said he saw no “signs” of trouble. Yet he also stated that the kid kept to himself, was quiet, and he didn’t interact with the boy. The reporter didn’t bother to ask why he didn’t interact with him. Could it be because the kid might have been volatile if asked the wrong question? Or he knew that previously the boy had threatened to kill his family?
All of the gun control laws in the world are a waste of energy and paper. It all comes down to the person with their finger on the trigger and the enabler who let it happen. It is possible that a civil lawsuit may be launched against the father because he knew his son was dangerous yet gave permission for him to acquire a gun(s).
The question, in that case, is did he have reasonable foreknowledge of a possible problem? In that instance, the answer is yes. Could he be charged with manslaughter along with his son? That’s a question only Illinois authorities can answer.
Cross-Posted with Conservative Firing Line
