Some familiar with Illinois law say public details of the Highland Park shooting case appear to suggest an intervention could have been considered and authorities should examine why it was not.
Pictures of the seven people who died during the Highland Park mass shooting are displayed at memorial in Port Clinton Square on July 11, 2022, one week after a mass shooting at the city's Fourth of July parade. Questions have been raised about whether Illinois laws could or should have been used to either bar the alleged shooter, Robert Crimo III, from buying firearms or subsequently removing them from his possession.
In the days after the shooting, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker told CNN the state needs to look at “changing some of the verbiage in the law on red flags so that something could have been filed that would have prevented” Crimo from being able to obtain a firearm owner’s identification card and, ultimately, a gun.
State Rep. Denyse Wang Stoneback at March for Our Lives rally at Federal Plaza on June 11, 2022, in Chicago. “The law is not effective unless people are informed and empowered to use it, and it has been underutilized in Illinois,” Stoneback said during a debate on the House floor in May 2021. If an emergency order is issued, a full hearing is scheduled as soon as possible so the subject has the opportunity to present a defense and a judge can consider whether the order should end or be extended for six months.
But use of the law has been relatively rare in Illinois compared with other states that have passed similar measures, and it’s essentially unheard of for restraining orders to be used proactively to keep people from getting guns.“There are two provisions of Illinois which is common across all the … states,” Frattaroli said. “Which is they temporarily prohibit possession. But they also temporarily bar new gun purchases. … We have found needs to be better understood.
In late 2020, the office developed training and materials to raise awareness and has since trained “law enforcement agencies, state’s attorney’s offices, crime victims’ organizations, gun safety groups and veterans’ service providers,” the statement read.DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin said after reviewing the red flag legislation in 2018, he immediately added the topic to his annual training for law enforcement.
About 60% of the red flag petitions have been filed by law enforcement, and the remaining cases have been filed by health care professionals, family members or someone close to the gun owner, he said.pulled into cases through 911 calls. Family members of a gun owner or someone close to the person might become alarmed by a threat of violence or signs of a mental health crisis.
Whether there was an opportunity, based on Illinois’ laws, to prevent that purchase or remove firearms from his possession once he had them is far less certain.In the months before getting approved to carry an Illinois gun permit, or FOID card, Highland Park police made two visits to Crimo’s home. Police spoke with Crimo, who “admitted to being depressed” on the day he allegedly made the threat. The reports notes also that he was “not forthcoming as to the language that he used ... nor was his mother.”
How and whether a firearms restraining order could have been used is a completely separate matter. But it’s also an essential question in the wake of the tragedy, experts and law enforcement officials said.Highland Park police and Lake County authorities pointed to several reasons why, despite those 2019 police interactions, a restraining order was not sought.
The family also had the authority under the law to seek a firearms restraining order. The Tribune contacted the Crimo family attorney to ask whether law enforcement ever made them aware of the option. “My understanding is that that was never discussed,” the attorney said.
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