Prosecutor: July 4 parade shooter confessed to police
Last edited Wed Jul 6, 2022, 12:49 PM - Edit history (1)
Source: AP
HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. (AP) — The man charged with killing seven people at an Independence Day parade confessed to police that he unleashed a hail of bullets from a rooftop in suburban Chicago and then fled to the Madison, Wisconsin, area, where he contemplated shooting up an event there, authorities said Wednesday. The gunman turned back to Illinois, where he was later arrested, after deciding he was not prepared to pull off a shooting in Wisconsin, Lake County Major Crime Task Force spokesman Christopher Covelli said at a news conference following a bond hearing. An Illinois judge ordered the suspect to be held without bail.
Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Ben Dillon said in court that the gunmam “looked down his sights, aimed” and fired at people across the street, killing seven and wounding more than two dozen. He left the shells of 83 bullets and three ammunition magazines on the rooftop. The parade shooting left another American community — this time affluent Highland Park, home to about 30,000 people near the Lake Michigan shore — reeling. Hundreds of marchers, parents and children fled in a panic. Some of the wounded remain in critical condition, Covelli said, and the death toll could still rise.
Questions also arose about how the suspect could have skirted Illinois’ relatively strict gun laws to legally purchase five weapons, including the high-powered rifle used in the shooting, despite authorities being called to his home twice in 2019 for threats of violence and suicide. Police went to the home following a call from a family member who said Robert E. Crimo III was threatening “to kill everyone” there. Covelli said police confiscated 16 knives, a dagger and a sword, but said there was no sign he had any guns at the time, in September 2019. Police in April 2019 also responded to a reported suicide attempt by the suspect, Covelli said. Crimo legally purchased the rifle used in the attack in Illinois within the past year, Covelli said.
In all, police said, he purchased five firearms, which were recovered by officers at his father’s home. The revelation about his gun purchases is just the latest example of young men who were able to obtain guns and carry out massacres in recent months despite glaring warning signs about their mental health and inclination to violence. Illinois state police, who issue gun owners’ licenses, said Crimo applied for a license in December 2019, when he was 19. His father sponsored his application. At the time “there was insufficient basis to establish a clear and present danger” and deny the application, state police said in a statement.
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/gun-violence-chicago-shootings-lake-michigan-9fd3e23a6396aa5e008943fbb260551b
Original article -
An Illinois judge ordered that the suspected gunman be held without bail. Police found the shells of 83 bullets and three ammunition magazines on the rooftop that he fired from, Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Ben Dillon said.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story is below.
The man charged with killing seven people when he unleashed a hail of bullets on an Independence Day parade from a rooftop was expected in court Wednesday as authorities faced questions about how he was allowed to buy several guns, despite threatening violence.
Robert E. Crimo III was charged with seven counts of murder Tuesday in the shooting that sent hundreds of marchers, parents and children fleeing in fear and set off an hourslong manhunt in and around Highland Park, an affluent Chicago suburb on the shores of Lake Michigan. Investigators have yet to identify a motive.
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Lock him up and throw away the key.
would tell you this is not okay.
I'm not one of them. 
