The July 4 massacre suspect has admitted to US police he carried out the shooting which has seen the death toll raise to eight.
The details emerged as Robert Crimo appeared in court for the first time today over Monday’s attack on an American Independence parade in Highland Park, Illinois.
As the 22-year-old was denied bail officials revealed the confessed killer had intended to carry out another mass shooting shortly after his first attack.
The disclosure came after Assistant State’s Attorney, Ben Dillon told a judge during today’s hearing that Crimo, 21, had made “a voluntary statement confessing to his actions.”
Wearing a black collarless T-shirt that showed a tattoo of a rose winding around his neck, the killer was silent for most of the hearing and showed no reaction as the names of the seven victims were read out.
An eighth person died shortly after the hearing.
Dillion said Crimo admitted he took a position on the roof of a building overlooking the parade route and “looked down his sights and opened fire.”
He fired a 30-round magazine, then fired two more using a Smith & Wesson M&P 15 assault rifle. Police found 83 shell casings on the roof, Dillion said.
Crimo contemplated a second shooting there because he had 60 rounds left, but decided against it and drove back to Illinois where he was later arrested.
Police tracked him down after the attack by tracing the serial number of a gun he dropped while running from the parade to his home.
It also emerged how Crimo’s parents helped him buy a gun just months after police confiscated his knife collection after he threatened to kill his mum and dad.
Police said they had received a “clear and present danger” report related to his family.
When officers attended they took away 16 knives, a dagger and a sword.
Crimo, who was 19 at the time, was not arrested.
He was two years under the legal age minimum to apply for the firearm owner’s identification (FOID) card needed to legally obtain a weapon.
But despite the murder, as well as suicide threats, Crimo’s father sponsored him for a FOID card in December 2019, and it was approved a month later, in January 2020.
Officials have since said they approved the permit because there was “insufficient basis” to deem him dangerous, with the only record on his file a 2016 ordnance violation for possession of tobacco.
It meant Crimo, now 22, was legally able to buy the weapon used in Monday’s massacre in Highland Park, some 25 miles north of Chicago, which left seven dead and a further 38 people injured.
After being charged with murder, Lake County State Attorney Eric Reinhart says Crimo faces “dozens” of other charges related to the people he injured.
Today, Crimo’s parents, Bob Crimo and his wife, Denise, released a statement.
It read: “We are all mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, and this is a terrible tragedy for many families, the victims, the paradegoers, the community, and our own. Our hearts, thoughts, and prayers go out to everybody.”
Police at first said Crimo was not known to them but on Tuesday revealed he was interviewed twice by authorities in 2019.
The first was in April that year a week after he threatened to kill himself.
The second was in September 2019, after he threatened to “kill everyone” in his family.
