Bob Crimo, Father Of Accused Highland Park Mass Shooter, Faces Charges

HIGHLAND PARK, IL — Prosecutors have filed criminal charges against the father of the man accused of shooting more than 50 people, seven fatally, at the Highland Park 4th of July parade.

Robert "Bob" Crimo Jr. was charged with seven counts of reckless conduct stemming from his decision to sign paperwork on Dec. 16, 2019, allowing his son to apply for a Firearm Owners Identification Card, or FOID, card.

Lake County State's Attorney Eric Rinehart said his office charged Crimo with one count for each of the seven slain paradegoers, who deserve "decisive action" from prosecutors and state lawmakers.

"As we all work together to address the root causes of crime, to hold shooters accountable for their actions in court and to pass common-sense gun safety legislation, we must also remember the long-standing principle that people bear responsibility for when they recklessly endanger others," Rinehart told reporters Friday afternoon. "These are the moral and legal foundations upon which these charges rest."

After the Illinois State Police granted his son's application, the accused mass shooter would go on to legally purchase five guns in June and July of 2020, authorities said.

Those five guns included two assault-style rifles — a Smith & Wesson M&P15 found at the scene of the shooting and a Kel-Tec Sub 2000 found in the car with the 21-year-old high school dropout and amateur musician when he returned from Wisconsin and was arrested more than eight hours after the shooting.

Crimo turned himself in to Highland Park police Friday. A bond hearing is scheduled for Saturday.

Reckless conduct is a class 4 felony that can be punished by a sentence ranging from probation to three years in state prison, usually served concurrently. The crime is defined as when a person "by any means lawful or unlawful, recklessly performs an act or acts" that harms or endangers someone.

"Parents and guardians are in the best position to decide whether their teenagers should have a weapon," Rinehart said. "They are the first line of defense. In this case, the system failed when Robert Crimo Jr. sponsored his son. He knew what he knew, and he signed the form anyway. This was criminally reckless and a contributing cause to the bodily harm suffered by the victims on July 4.”

Based on specific information that the state's attorney said Crimo had at the time of the application, signing it was reckless, according to Rinehart, who declined to disclose what that information was.

"The parents know what's going on with their teenagers," Rinehart said. "And so he knows what's going on and it was reckless for him to participate in the FOID process in that way in this case."

Police reports show that Crimo's son had attempted to take his own life in April 2019 and had reportedly threatened a family member in September 2019 in an incident that led Highland Park police officers to briefly seize 16 knives, a dagger and a samurai sword from the family home and to submit a "clear and present danger" report to Illinois State Police.

State police determined that Crimo's son probably did not pose a threat and the report did not hinder the then-19-year-old's gun license application.

"ISP does not know more than someone about their son," Rinehart said. "The government is not typically going to know more than a parent about what is going on with the ... 18-, 19- or 20-year-old."

Crimo previously said he did not regret signing off on his son's application. Days after the shooting, he told ABC News his son had purchased all of his guns with his own money, and they had all registered in his name.

“I filled out the consent form to allow my son to go through the process that the Illinois State Police have in place for an individual to obtain a FOID card,” Crimo said at the time. “They do background checks. Whatever that entails, I’m not exactly sure. And either you’re approved or denied, and he was approved."

Dozens of federal, state and local law enforcement personnel have analyzed digital evidence in the case to "uncover the truth of the critical weeks before the FOID was issued," according to the state's attorney's office.

George Gomez, Crimo's defense attorney, described the charges Friday as "politically motivated and a distraction" and "baseless and unprecedented."

“This decision should alarm every single parent in the United States of America who according to the Lake County State’s Attorney knows exactly what is going on with their 19 year old adult children and can be held criminally liable for actions taken nearly three years later,” Gomez said in a statement to the Associated Press. “These charges are absurd and we will fight them every step of the way."

Crimo is not the first Illinois parent to be criminally charged after their child was accused in a mass shooting.

Jeff Reinking, father of convicted Nashville Waffle House shooter Travis Reinking, was found guilty of illegal delivery of a firearm earlier this year. Prosecutors said the elder Reinking, a business owner from Morton, Illinois, gave Travis his guns back — including the weapon used to kill four people — after his son's FOID card was revoked due to several incidents, including climbing over a barrier at the White House.

Tazewell County Sheriff Robert M. Huston later said Travis Reinking agreed to surrender four guns, including the AR-15, but that father Jeffrey Reinking, who was also present and had a valid FOID card, asked for and was given permission to keep them.

In Michigan, Jennifer and James Crumbley, the parents of convicted Oxford school shooter Ethan Crumbley, are charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, one count for each of the students killed by their son in November 2021.

Crimo and his son are separately facing civil lawsuits from victims of the shooting, which also target gunmaker Smith & Wesson and a pair of retailers who sold the guns.

At a news conference Friday to announce the reckless conduct charges, the Lake County state's attorney called on legislators to "make the decision that this will never happen again" by passing a ban on assault-style weapons and magazines with more than 10 bullets.

Those proposals, along with a ban on FOID cards for people under 21 who are not in the military, are included in the recently introduced House Bill 5855, the Protecting Illinois Communities Act. Gov. J.B. Pritzker said last week he hopes to sign an assault weapons ban before the one-year anniversary of the Highland Park shooting.

"For too long we've allowed a vocal minority to drown out the majority and to stall common sense legislation about gun safety," Rinehart said. "Shattered communities deserve better. Gun violence is a uniquely American devastation. But it is not destiny, it is a decision."