Daily Chronicle/ShawLocal.com • Friday, Jul 8, 2022
DAILY CHRONICLE
10
STATE
How July 4 suspect slipped through system By BERNARD CONDON and JIM MUSTIAN 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 buying 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 col-
lection 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.” Nicholas Suplina, senior vice president for law and policy at Everytown for Gun Safety said, “Red-flag 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. “Like a sleepwalker … I know what I have to do,” Crimo narrated in another rap video posted late last year. “Everything has led up to this. Nothing can stop me, even myself.” “We were not made aware of these videos,” Christopher Covelli, deputy chief of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, told reporters. For its part, Illinois State Police defended the issuance of a gun permit for Crimo, noting that Highland Park police had declined to arrest the teen after his alleged threat in September 2019 because they could not meet the legal hurdle of “probable cause.” To deny a gun permit, they said, requires an even higher legal standard – “preponderance of evidence” – that he is a
clear and present danger. State police also noted in a statement that even though an unidentified family member reported the threat and spoke of a fear of returning home, family members denied Crimo was dangerous and didn’t want to press charges. “When police went to the house, both the individual and his mother disputed the threat of violence. The individual told police he did not feel like hurting himself or others and was offered mental health resources,” the statement said. Several months before, in April 2019, Crimo attempted to commit suicide by machete, according to a police report obtained by AP that noted a “history of attempts.” Other police reports show officers had visited the Crimo home frequently over the years for domestic violence disputes and other incidents. Several experts described Crimo as the epitome of a “clear and present danger,” defined under Illinois law as a person who “communicates a serious threat of physical violence” or “demonstrates threatening physical or verbal behavior.” But others weren’t so sure, noting that police are limited in how much they can act when an accuser reporting violent threats doesn’t want to press charges and family members are uncooperative. Even if an order had been issued, it’s not a given that a judge would have extended the order beyond six months. Robert Berlin, state attorney for DuPage County, the most active issuer of red-flag orders in Illinois, said that the dozens of cases he’s overseen almost always include family members assisting investigators.
In the midst of chaotic shooting, strangers save a young boy By MARTHA IRVINE The Associated Press
CHICAGO – A woman – stunned and speechless in the chaos of a July 4 parade massacre – walked up to Greg Ring and handed him a 2-year-old boy, covered in blood. Ring had fled the scene in Highland Park with his wife and three children to an area behind a popular pancake house. “We kind of met eyes and didn’t say anything ... I put my arms out, and she gave him to me,” Ring said Wednesday, when describing the exchange with the unidentified woman, who then laid down in front of their car in shock.
The boy pointed in the direction of the parade route, saying, “Mommy, Daddy, Mommy, Daddy.” Ring’s wish to help the boy carried him back to the scene. He tucked the boy’s face in his chest, so he couldn’t see the carnage. But Ring quickly realized it was too dangerous. “Active shooter! Get back down!” a police officer shouted. Ring fled again. He and his family got to their car and took the boy to a Highland Park fire station. “I have a boy. He’s not ours,” he told the department staff, who asked him to keep the boy as authorities searched for the shooter and helped the wounded. “They were getting ready for war,”
Ring said. The family drove to Ring’s in-laws, where they hunkered down. There, the boy sat with Ring’s 4-year-old, watching a Mickey Mouse show. “He asked my wife to wipe him off because he had blood on him that wasn’t his,” said Ring, an insurance broker from Highland Park. They later were able to identify the boy and reunite him with his grandparents. Aiden McCarthy’s parents, Kevin and Irina, both died in the shooting, which left five others dead and more than two dozen wounded. Friends of the McCarthys said Irina’s parents would care for the boy going forward.
“Aiden ... will have a long road ahead to heal, find stability, and ultimately navigate life as an orphan. He is surrounded by a community of friends and extended family that will embrace him with love, and any means available to ensure he has everything he needs as he grows,” Irina Colon wrote on a GoFundMe account she created for the family and Aiden. Colon, who described Irina McCarthy as family on her Facebook page, has raised more than $2 million so far. On Wednesday, Ring was still trying to process what happened at the July 4 parade. He said he’s not a hero and just did what anyone would have done in the situation.
