“The kid had a problem,” Mr. Fuentes, 40, said. “I also have children and if I see something, I have responsibility. Parents had a responsibility to do something.” Millions of American parents are now worried about their children becoming victims of mass shootings. But a different nightmare exists for the tiny but growing group of parents whose children, almost always sons, pull the trigger. Some had spent months or years before the attacks worrying about their sons’ mental health and seeking help in vain. But most don’t notify authorities before an attack, researchers say, and those parents may face scorn and accusations that they ignored warning signs or even enabled the attacks by allowing their sons to get hold of deadly weapons. Then some parents change their names and leave town. A handful are telling their stories to prevent future attacks. Others try to disappear through their silence. “It’s pretty scary to think you might be a victim of some random violence,” said Andrew Solomon, a writer who interviewed the parents of the gunmen who attacked Columbine High School and Sandy Hook Elementary. “But to think that you might be called because you don’t know, that your child had caused this, is also a terrible fate.” The parents of the man accused of shooting in Highland Park have come under scrutiny after the attack that killed seven people and left many others injured. Law enforcement officials have released records detailing how the father advocated for his son’s gun permit in 2019 despite incidents in which his son allegedly tried to kill himself with a machete and drew police to his home because, they said, the police, threatened to “kill everybody.” The father said he had done nothing wrong and was shocked by what had happened. As more of the nation’s deadliest mass shootings are carried out by killers in their teens and early 20s, prosecutors and investigators are focusing on parents to uncover how their sons become radicalized, what interventions might have stopped them, and whether the parents who ignore obvious warnings or provide guns to their children should be held criminally responsible. According to data from the Violence Project, more than 50 people under the age of 25 have killed at least four people in a public place since 1966. This data excludes mass killings attributed to gang activity, robberies or other underlying crimes. Sometimes parents are charged with negligence or manslaughter after a child accidentally shoots themselves or someone else with an improperly stored gun. It’s much rarer for parents to be charged after their kids go on a shooting spree.
More about Highland Park Shooting
Seven people were killed and many others were injured in a mass shooting at the July 4th parade in Highland Park, a suburb of Chicago.
But a handful of recent cases suggest that may be changing, as law enforcement agencies look for new ways to combat the rise in mass shootings. “It’s uncharted territory as to how much responsibility parents will take for their children’s behavior,” said Frank Kaminski, the police chief in Park Ridge, Ill., another Chicago suburb. He added: “I’m all for gun accountability.” When a 15-year-old in Michigan was accused of butchering four of his classmates last year, his parents were charged with involuntary manslaughter. have pleaded not guilty. And after a 29-year-old man went on a killing spree at a Waffle House in Nashville in 2018, the man’s father, an Illinois resident, was charged in that state with illegally supplying the gun used at the restaurant. Officials said the Waffle House gunman had received treatment for mental health issues and later lost his Illinois gun license. When that happened, they said, he took the guns to his father. When the son walked away, authorities said, the father returned a rifle, which they said was a crime. But Michael Doubet, an attorney for Jeffrey Reinking, the father of the Waffle House gunman, said a distinction must be made between the responsibilities of the parents of a juvenile offender and the parents of someone who commits a mass shooting as a legal adult. . Mr. Reinking was convicted of unlawful delivery of a firearm and is awaiting sentencing. “When people are over 18, they are beyond their parents’ control,” Mr Doubet said. Kevin Johnson, the prosecutor in that case, said family members and friends should “have the courage and common sense to follow through and make the appropriate report to authorities” if they fear someone they know is headed for violence. . He added: “Unless and until they are willing to do that, there is no way for the authorities to step in and help and maybe prevent a tragedy.” Researchers say some parents of troubled children don’t always know where to turn for help. They hesitate to call the police on their sons’ private mental health struggles before they turn violent, fearing a lasting effect on their child’s record. Investigators found deep denial in a case like the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary shooting. A detailed state report found that the 20-year-old gunman’s mother did not heed calls from medical specialists to get mental health treatment for him in the years before the shooting and did not limit his access to weapons as his mental state deteriorated. The mother, Nancy Lanza, was one of 27 people killed by her son. The issue of parenting is especially complicated for armed men who occupy a murky space between childhood and adulthood. They are often still housebound, but legally adults, and can often pass background checks and purchase high-powered firearms. In emails that appear to have been written by the 18-year-old accused of killing 10 people in a racist massacre at a Buffalo supermarket in May, the writer worried that his mother would find the guns he had hidden in his bedroom at his parents’ home . That same month, the gunman in Uvalde, Texas, also 18, lived with his grandparents and shot his grandmother in the face before driving to the elementary school where he killed 19 children and two adults. Highland Park massacre suspect Robert E. Crimo III had been living with his father, Robert Crimo Jr., for the past six months and with his mother, Denise Pesina, before that, a family attorney said. After the attack, police said, he fled the city in his mother’s car before being arrested. He was charged with murder and ordered held without bail. Neither of the defendant’s parents has been charged with any crime. Authorities gave non-committal answers to questions about whether they were investigating the elder Mr. Krimo, saying “everything is on the table.” A public defender representing the son declined to comment on the case against his client or whether the parents had any responsibility. George Gomez, a lawyer representing the elder Mr. Crimo and Ms. Pesina, said they declined to be interviewed for this article. In recent media interviews, the elder Mr. Crimo said he had no involvement in the shootings and had no idea what his son might be up to. He defended his decision to support his son’s gun permit application in 2019, saying he was following the legal process Illinois had set up for anyone under 21 to obtain a Firearm Owner’s Identification Card. Given the father’s sponsorship, State Police said they had no legal basis to deny the son’s application. “I filled out the consent form to allow my son to go through the process — they do background checks, whatever that entails,” Mr. Crimo told ABC News. State police said the document the elder Mr. Crimo signed included a provision saying he “will be responsible for any damages resulting from the use of firearms or ammunition by the minor applicant.” The younger Mr. Crimo bought the high-powered rifle that the police said he used in the parade attack before his 21st birthday, when he would have been able to apply for an unsponsored permit. He was 21 at the time of the shooting, which police said he carried out after climbing a rooftop in downtown Highland Park during the parade and spraying more than 80 bullets into the crowd. Before the attack, the father was well-known in the community, running a delicatessen in the town and unsuccessfully running for mayor. His wife, Ms. Pesina, ran a physical therapy business. Family life for the Crimo family could be chaotic. In August 2002, just before the suspect’s second birthday, police officers found the toddler alone in a car in a Toys “R” Us parking lot. Prosecutors charged his mother, Ms. Pessina, who they said left him alone for about 27 minutes with the windows rolled up while it was 79 degrees outside. Court records show Ms. Pesina reached a plea deal and spent a year on court supervision, which she completed. No judgment has been entered in the misdemeanor child endangerment case, records show. The suspect’s parents sometimes argued loudly, and officers made several visits to the home during a tumultuous period about a decade ago to mediate petty disputes, police records show. Along the way, there were signs that their son was struggling. He dropped out of Highland Park High School in 2016, shortly before the start of his sophomore year, officials said, and never graduated from that school. “It was like he was invisible,” said Kate Kramer, 21, who knew him in high school. About 80 percent of gunmen in mass shootings show a marked change…
