The father of the accused Highland Park shooter has revealed that he wants his son to serve a lengthy sentence for his crimes.
In an interview with The New York Post, Robert Crimo Jr - father to alleged shooter Robert "Bobby" E. Crimo III - said his son talked about the mass shooting in Denmark the night before the tragedy.
On Monday, the Fourth of July celebrations in Highland Park, Illinois, came to a tragic end when a gunman opened fire on the public from a nearby rooftop at around 10:00AM.
The shooting spree has resulted in the deaths of at least seven people, with dozens more injured.
Crimo Jr spoke out for the first time since the shooting and said that the night before the July 4th massacre, he and his son discussed the 22-year-old Danish man who shot and killed three people at a mall outside of Copenhagen on Sunday (July 3).
"He goes, 'Yeah, that guy is an idiot.' That’s what he said!" the dad recalled. He also disclosed that his son said: "People like that [who commit mass shootings] to amp up the people that want to ban all guns."
Crimo Jr added: "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?"
Crimo Jr, a onetime local mayoral candidate who had a local sandwich shop, has received criticism for sponsoring his son’s gun-license application, which permitted him to buy four guns before the age of 21.
The father sponsored the shooter's application three months after he was labeled a "clear and present danger" by authorities for threatening to murder relatives in 2019.
The incident, which led law enforcement to seize a sword, dagger, and 15 knives from the shooter’s home, was described as a "childish outburst," by Crimo Jr, who stated that the knives were "just a collection".
While the father announced that he’s fully supportive of his son and will attend all of his court hearings, he does condemn his actions.
"I want a long sentence," Crimo Jr said. "That’s life. You know you have consequences for actions. He made a choice. He didn’t have to do that. I think there’s mental illness there, obviously...I didn’t see a lot of it."
Crimo Jr. also alleges that his son’s crimes were not racially charged and remarked that his son also injured a relative of one of his lifelong friends in the shooting.
"I’m speechless with that. It just took me by such surprise. It’s horrible," he said about the victims of this shooting. "It’s surreal. I mean essentially I lost a son, too. It sucks."
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