- Police had contact with the suspect twice in 2019 but no red flags were raised because he didn’t have a gun license.
- A year later, the suspect got his Illinois gun license at age 19. His dad co-signed his application because he was under 21.
- Even if the suspect had been banned from buying a gun in Illinois, he would have been legally able to purchase one across state lines.
- Ultimately, the suspect slipped through the system’s cracks where no authority prevented him from amassing an arsenal of weapons.
The July Fourth shooting suspect’s legal firearms purchases following repeated police background checks have exposed deep flaws in the piecemeal state and federal systems intended to stop someone like him.
Robert “Bobby” Crimo III, 21, held a valid Illinois Firearm Owner’s Identification card at the time of the shooting that killed seven people and injured dozens more in Highland Park, an upscale Chicago suburb. And he legally purchased at least five guns, authorities said, including the Smith & Wesson M&P15 semiautomatic rifle that he’s accused of using in the attack.