Highland Park massacre victims sue Illinois State Police for approving suspect's gun card

Several victims of the Highland Park parade massacre have filed lawsuits against the Illinois State Police, alleging it allowed the suspected shooter to obtain firearms.

Five lawsuits filed in the past month in the Illinois Court of Claims allege state police negligently approved Robert E. Crimo III's gun ownership application in 2019 despite Highland Park police issuing a "clear and present danger" alert against him months earlier.

Crimo is accused of opening fire from a rooftop on July 4, 2022, killing seven people and wounding 48 others.

The state police — who won't comment — have said the alert did not rise to the level of denying him a gun ownership card. But the lawsuits claim the alert, prompted by a police house call, included details that showed Crimo was not fit to obtain guns.

"The atrocity carried out by Robert Crimo III was predictable and preventable, if only the Illinois State Police and its Firearm Services Bureau had followed their internal rules, laws, and code provisions that applied to dangerous individuals like Robert Crimo III," reads a lawsuit filed by the family of Eduardo Uvaldo, who died in the shooting.

His family's lawyer, Matthew Sims, said in a statement that the "red flag should have been maintained and used to deny the shooter a FOID just weeks later. Instead, it appears the State Police did nothing with it."

Crimo applied for a gun ownership card when he was 19 and required the signature of his father, Robert Crimo Jr. The father pleaded guilty last year to misdemeanor charges of reckless conduct for signing the application, admitting that he knew his son was not fit to own a weapon.

According to the lawsuits, the red flag was prompted when Highland Park police responded to the Crimo household in September 2019. A family member had called police, claiming Crimo was suicidal and threatened to "kill everyone," the lawsuit states. Police arrived and allegedly confiscated over a dozen knives, a dagger and a sword. But the boy's dad allegedly claimed the weapons were his, and the family then denied to police that Crimo had threatened them and himself.

Three other similar lawsuits were filed by the firm Levin and Perconti on behalf of victims Zoe Kolpack, Stephen Kolpack and Michael Joyce. A fifth lawsuit, representing nearly 40 victims and relatives, was filed by the Romanucci & Blandin law firm.

In 2022, the same families sued in state court the alleged shooter Robert E. Crimo III, his father and gun manufacturer Smith & Wesson, who made the alleged murder weapon.

The new lawsuits were filed in the Illinois Court of Claims, where residents can sue state agencies for damages. The cases haven't yet been given a hearing date, according to a spokesperson for the Illinois Secretary of State's Office, which oversees the court.

Shortly after the massacre, Illinois State Police Director Brendan Kelly said there had been “insufficient basis” to deny Crimo III’s request for a FOID card — with family members denying his threats and no domestic violence order or court order restraining him from having a gun.

Days later, Kelly and Gov. J.B. Pritzker enacted an emergency rule for broader use of “clear and present danger” reports — aimed at barring applicants from receiving a firearm owner’s identification card or revoking a current card for those who exhibit violent or suicidal behavior.