On Monday, an Independence Day parade in Highland Park, Illinois, ended in tragedy when a gunman opened fire, killing over seven people and injuring 31 others.
A manhunt ensued, leading to the arrest of a 21-year-old suspect who was arrested and charged with seven first-degree murders. The Lake County prosecutor also said he could face “dozens more charges.”
Robert Crimo Jr., the suspect’s father, said he and his son discussed another mass shooting the day before: the shooting at a shopping mall in Copenhagen, Denmark.
The shooting they were talking about happened when a 22-year-old Dane killed three people and injured many more.
“He goes, ‘Yeah, that guy is an idiot,'” recalled the father. “That’s what he said.”
Robert Crimo III, the father of the Independence Day killer, also said that people who commit mass shootings are giving others more reasons to demand a gun ban.
People blame their father for sponsoring Crimo a gun owner’s ID before he turned21 (the killer was 19, officials say). However, the father claims he was not involved in the mass shooting.
It is unclear whether the suspect would have had to renew his license if he had been 21. In a lawsuit against the shooter, Crimo’s parents enlisted the help of attorney Steve Greenberg, known for playing R&B singer and sex offender R. Kelly.
“I don’t know how much worse it could get then you wake up in the morning and a few hours, you realize that someone that you’ve loved and nurtured all their lives has done such a terrorific act, and done it to people that you love and respect,” Greenberg told ABC7 on Wednesday.
“It’s not the fault of the parents. It’s the fault of the young man who was allowed by the system to buy military-grade assault rifles.”
The lawyer also referred to an incident in 2019 when police were called to investigate a possible threat by a gunman to confiscate a collection of knives.
“The police investigated. They didn’t perceive there was any great threat because they returned these knives to the family just a few hours later,” said Greenberg. “And there were no other incidents. So we’re three years later now.”
