The Highland Park shooter had threatened to kill his family and planned another Wisconsin shooting on the run

Robert Crimothe man accused of killing seven people at a United States Independence Day paradeconfessed to police that after shooting from the roof of a building in suburban Chicago, he fled to the Madison, Wisconsin area to carry out another shooting there, authorities said Wednesday.

The man returned to Illinois because he decided he wasn’t ready for a shootout Wisconsinand then he was arrested, Lake County Sheriff’s Major Crimes Unit spokesman Christopher Covelli said after a hearing.

LOOK: Robert Crimo perpetrated the Highland Park parade massacre disguised as a woman

An Illinois judge ordered the suspect held without the possibility of bail. Police found 83 shell casings and three ammunition clips on the roof from which he fired the shots, Lake County Prosecutor Ben Dillon said.

Robert “Bobby” E. Crimo III, 21, charged with seven counts of first-degree murder, appears by video at his bond hearing at Lake County Circuit Court in Waukegan, Illinois, on July 6, 2022. (ANTONIO PEREZ / AFP).

Robert E. Crimo III He was charged with seven murders Tuesday in the shooting that sent hundreds of parade participants and spectators fleeing in terror, including many children with their parents. Immediately, he began searching Highland Park, an upper-middle-class suburb on the shores of Lake Michigan. The reason was still unknown.

LOOK: 2-year-old baby loses his parents in the US 4th of July shooting: “He was bloodied and alone”

Before the confession Crimo’s lawyer had said that his client planned to plead not guilty.

A semi-automatic rifle “similar to an AR-15” was used to fire the projectiles from the roof of a commercial building toward parade spectators, said a spokesman for the Lake County police force in charge of investigating major crimes.

The seventh victim died Tuesday. More than 30 people were injured in the attack, which the suspect had planned for weeks.police spokesman Christopher Covelli said.

About three years ago, police went to Crimo’s home when a relative called to say he was threatening to “kill everyone.”. Covelli said police confiscated 16 knives, a dagger and a swordbut found no firearms at the time, in September 2019.

In April 2019, the police responded to the complaint of a suicide attempt by the same suspectCovelli said.

Crimo legally acquired the rifle used in the attack in Illinois earlier this year, Covelli said. In total, he bought five firearms that the agents found in his father’s house.

It is just the latest case of young men who were able to buy weapons and carry out massacres in recent months, despite clear warning signs that they suffered from mental disorders with violent tendencies.

state police of Illinoiswhich issues permits to own weapons, said that Crimo applied for a license in December 2019, when he was 19 years old, under the auspices of his father.

At the time “there were insufficient grounds that he posed an imminent danger” to deny the request, state police said in a statement.

Investigators who questioned the suspect and reviewed his social media posts have not determined a motive or that he targeted his victims because of their race or religion, Covelli said.

Source: Elcomercio