Authorities say July 4 parade shooting suspect had 2 contacts with police in 2019
In a news conference Tuesday afternoon, Lake County Major Crime Task Force spokesperson Chris Covelli said that the suspect in the shooting at a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Ill., Robert “Bobby” Crimo III, had two previous contacts with the police, both of which were in 2019.
Video Transcript
- There were some questions at our last press briefing about prior contacts that law enforcement may have had with Crimo III. We've done some research gathered some reports. And I'm going to relay some information from two prior instances that occurred here in Highland Park. The first was in April of 2019.
An individual contacted Highland Park Police Department a week after learning of Mr. Crimo attempting suicide. This was a delayed report. So Highland Park still responded to the residence a week later, spoke with Crimo, spoke with Crimo's parents, and the matter was being handled by mental health professionals at that time.
There was no law enforcement action to be taken. It was a mental health issue handled by those professionals. 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. The police responded to his residence.
The police removed 16 knives, a dagger, and a sword from Crimo's home. At that time, there was no probable cause to arrest. There were no complaints that were signed by any of the victims. The Highland Park Police Department, however, did immediately notify the Illinois State Police of the incident.
