Highland Park shooter Robert "Bobby" Crimo III spoke to his father Robert Crimo Jr. also called Bob Crimo about the Copenhagen mall shooting on Sunday, hours before going on a carnage with an AR-15-styled rifle during a 4th of July parade at the Illinois suburb. Robert Crimo opened fire at a 4thof July parade at Highland Park on Monday, killing seven and leaving more than 40 wounded.
Bob Crimo made the revelations on Wednesday but surprisingly, even after talking to his son, he didn't see any need to raise a red flag". Hours later, Robert Crimo left the world shocked by his actions. The shooting at Copenhagen on Sunday left three dead, while several others were injured.
Shocking Revelations
According to the father of Robert Crimo, his son talked about the mass shooting at Copenhagen mall just hours before going on a rampage at Highland Park. The shooter who killed three and injured four people in Denmark's capital was "an idiot", he had allegedly told his father Robert Crimo Jr.
"He goes, 'Yeah, that is an idiot.' That's what he said!" Robert Crimo Jr. told the New York Post as he recalled his conversation with Robert Crimo.
"People like that [commit mass shootings] to amp up the people that want to ban all guns," the son added according to the father.
"I talked to him 13 hours before [Monday's massacre]. That's why I guess I'm in such shock. ... Like, did he have a psychiatric break or something?" Robert Crimo Jr said of his son.
Robert Crimo Jr. and his estranged wife Denise Pesina issued a statement calling their son's acts a "tragedy," but he is under fire now after it came to light that he helped his son in obtaining guns just a few months after his knife collection was confiscated by police.
It now seems, Robert Crimo Jr. neglected his son's unnatural behavior and never bothered to inform or alert the authorities about it.
Washing His Hands Off
Although police haven't questioned or charged any of the parents, many believe the parents too were to a great extent responsible for not alerting the police about their son's unnatural behavior.
In fact, Robert Crimo Jr. is now trying to wash his hands off the entire incident. On Wednesday, Crimo Jr. said that the massacre has left him and Denise Pesina "devastated" and "floored." Crimo Jr. has been claiming to the media that he is not the shooter's father but only the home's caretaker.
"I want a long sentence," Crimo said about his son being detained. "That's life. You know you have consequences for actions. He made a choice. He didn't have to do that."
In September 2019, Illinois State Police received a "clear and present danger" report related to Robert Crimo's family after he for the first time threatened to commit suicide and, on another occasion, threatened to "kill everyone" in his family. Police also confiscated 16 knives, a dagger and a sword from his house property, but later returned them.
In an interview with the New York Post, Crimo said the ordeal was a 'childish outburst' and compared his son's knife collection to a baseball card collection. "You know I used to collect coins and baseball cards," the father said.
At the time, Crimo, who was 19 years old, was not arrested. He was two years younger than the minimum age required by law to apply for a FOID card, which is required to lawfully purchase a firearm.
Nevertheless, despite the threats of murder-suicide, Crimo's father sponsored him for a FOID card in December 2019; a month later, in January 2020, it was accepted, enabling him to acquire four firearms.
Rober Crimo's FOID, which permitted him to purchase the AR-15 used in the attack, was sponsored by his father., who claimed he did so because he believed his son would use the weapon to visit a shooting range.
"He bought everything on his own, and they're registered to him," the dad said of his son's weapons.
"You know, he drove there, he ordered them, he picked them up, they did his background check on each one," said Crimo Jr., insisting he had "zero" involvement in the massacre.
"They make me like I groomed him to do all this," he said of critics. "I've been here my whole life, and I'm gonna stay here, hold my head up high, because I didn't do anything wrong," Robert Crimo Jr. said.
The father said that he is "furious" over the incident even though he stated he is "completely supportive" of his son and will continue to attend all of his court appearances.
