Red flags missed: How July 4 suspect slipped through system
The Associated Press Illinois’ “red-flag” law could have stopped the suspect in the Independence Day parade shooting from buying a gun or at least delayed the purchase of the weapon he’s accused of using to kill seven people and wound dozens.
Police in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park were called twice to the home of Robert Crimo III in 2019 — once after he tried to commit suicide and again when he allegedly threatened to “kill everyone” in his family. On either occasion, they could have immediately exercised part of the law that allowed them to seek a restraining order to prevent Crimo from buy- ing guns for anywhere from 14 days to six months.
Obtaining such a delay could have bought critical time for police to seek more information to ask a judge for a longer order preventing a gun purchase.
But Highland Park police did not seek such an order, and they were not required to do so. And just four months after the reported threat that prompted officers to seize 16 knives, a sword and a dagger from Crimo’s home, Illinois State Police approved him for a firearms permit. The agency explained the decision in part by saying that it didn’t consider him a “clear and present danger” because he didn’t consider himself such a danger.
“When police went to the home and asked the individual if he felt like harming himself or others, he responded no,” the state police said in a statement this week, adding “importantly” that Crimo’s father assured officers that the collection of knives seized from the home was his and would be stored safely.
That fateful decision in early 2020 to issue the then-19-year-old Crimo a firearms permit allowed him to legally purchase five guns, including the Smith & Wesson semi-automatic rifle authorities say he used from his rooftop perch to unleash more than 80 rounds on a Fourth of July parade below.
The episode highlights how, even in a state with some of the nation’s most restrictive gun laws, opportunities can be missed to keep weapons from dangerous and disturbed people. While the authorities who crossed paths with Crimo contend their hands were tied by the law, several people familiar with Illinois’ statutes told The Associated Press there were more than enough ways to block him from getting guns.
“Laws don’t mean much unless they’re followed,” said Sean Holihan, the state legislative director for Giffords, a gun safety advocacy group. “This fell through the cracks. The law was written to make sure this wouldn’t happen and it still did.”
Added Nicholas Suplina, senior vice president for law and policy at Everytown for Gun Safety: “Redflag laws are designed for precisely this kind of situation. … It’s an important tool in the gun violence prevention toolbox. But you got to take the tool out and use it.”
A tool Highland Park police did make use of, they said, was the “clear and present danger” report filed with the state after their two visits to his home in 2019. Such reports are intended to alert state
police to people who, if allowed to buy a gun, may pose an “imminent threat of substantial bodily harm to themselves or others.”
Highland Park police did not respond to requests for comment.
Crimo’s warning signs also included a voluminous and disturbing social media footprint that went back years and somehow escaped law enforcement scrutiny despite the fact that the aspiring rapper had thousands of followers on YouTube and songs on Spotify that collectively had millions of plays.
Stick-thin, dark-haired and heavily tattooed on his neck and face, Crimo went by the stage name Awake the Rapper and left a trail of clues in his videos of a fascination with violence, guns and suicide. One video titled “Toy Soldier” showed a cartoon figure brandishing a rifle on a city street, followed by drawings of a victim’s chest spurting blood and police cars closing in.
In online chat rooms that reveled in mass murder and gore, Crimo apparently also posted video of a beheading and grainy news footage of a politician’s infamous public suicide.