(The Center Square) – Charges are pending in the case of the 21-year-old Highland Park shooting suspect that local police say they reported to Illinois State Police more than two years ago.
Lake County Major Crimes Task Force spokesperson Chris Covelli said law enforcement had contact with suspect Robert Crimo before Monday’s mass shooting at a Fourth of July parade and detailed two interactions.
“The second occurred in September of 2019, a family member reported that Crimo said he was going to kill everyone and Crimo had a collection of knives,” Covelli said. “The police responded to the residents. The police removed 16 knives, a dagger and a sword from Crimo’s home.”
Covelli said there was nothing that led to further police action at that time and local police notified Illinois State Police. He said after that, Crimo legally purchased five guns over two years. To purchase firearms or ammunition in Illinois requires a valid Illinois State Police issued Firearm Owner’s Identification Card.
ISP Master Sergeant Delilah Garcia said there wasn’t anything to act upon in 2019 when local police reported the Crimo incident.
“He didn’t have a pending application so there was nothing to review at that time when we got that notification,” Garcia told reporters. “We didn’t know that a few months later something else would happen.”
More details on that process are expected.
Police on Tuesday also said Crimo had planned the attack over several weeks and fired more than 70 shots Monday from a nearby rooftop.
A seventh person has died from the attack. The victims’ identities were released Tuesday afternoon.
There’s no motive yet and Covelli said suspect Crimo’s attack on the parade appears to be “completely random.”
“We have no information that suggests at this point it was racially motivated, motivated by religion or any other protected status,” Covelli said during an update Tuesday.
In other updates, Covelli said the male suspect appears to have acted alone and was wearing a disguise.
“During the attack, Crimo was dressed in women’s clothing and investigators do believe he did this to conceal his facial tattoos and his identity and help him during the escape with the other people fleeing the chaos,” Covelli said.
Law enforcement continue to take tips from the public as well as any video evidence of the incident.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker issued a disaster declaration for Lake County to expedite any state resources necessary to assist with the community over the next month.
