By Brendan O’Brien
CHICAGO (Reuters) – An Illinois father will appear in court on Thursday to be arraigned on charges that he helped his underage son obtain the gun used to kill seven people at a Fourth of July parade near Chicago, despite signs that the younger man was mentally unfit.
Robert Crimo Jr. is due to appear in a Lake County Circuit Court at 11 a.m. local time for the hearing a day after a grand jury handed up an indictment on seven counts of reckless conduct.
Crimo Jr. is accused of helping his son obtain a state firearms license in 2019 when he sponsored his application for a firearm owner identification (FOID) card, despite knowing his son was unfit to own a gun.
His son, Robert Crimo III, is accused of opening fire on spectators watching an Independence Day parade in Highland Park, Illinois, last summer, killing seven people and injuring dozens. The younger Crimo pleaded not guilty in August to 117 counts, including 21 charges of first-degree murder.
The younger Crimo used the FOID card to legally purchase five guns between 2020 and 2021, including the weapon that police said he used to shoot his victims from a sniper’s perch on a rooftop above the parade route. He was 21 at the time of the shooting.
Authorities have previously acknowledged that the accused gunman applied for a FOID card at age 19 in December 2019, three months after police were called to his home over a report that he had threatened to kill family members.
According to law enforcement, the police seized a collection of 16 knives, a dagger and a sword, but the weapons were returned after the father told authorities they were his.
The alleged threat in September 2019 followed a prior incident in which police responded to an emergency call reporting that the younger Crimo had attempted suicide.
The younger Crimo could not have legally applied for a FOID card in 2019 without a parent or guardian signing for him because he was under 21 at that time.The situation was reminiscent of involuntary manslaughter charges brought against the parents of a teenager who shot four classmates to death at a Detroit-area high school last year. Prosecutors said the couple bought their son a gun despite signs he was disturbed. The parents have pleaded not guilty.
The Michigan case appears to mark the first instance in which the parents of a teenage school shooter were prosecuted in connection with crimes allegedly committed by their child.
(Reporting by Brendan O’Brien in Chicago; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
