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In an exclusive phone interview, the suspect’s father said his family is shocked.
“This has taken us by complete surprise. Even more so because I think, three, three days before the fourth, my wife had asked him, ‘hey, do you have any plans for the fourth?’ And he simply said, ‘no.'”
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Crimo said he spent nearly an hour with his son talking the night before the attack and said he was in a great mood.
He also said he’s not worried about an investigation by Illinois State Police into his culpability for signing the affidavit allowing his son to obtain a Firearm Owners Identification Card, needed in the state of Illinois to purchase firearms or ammunition.
Crimo told ABC News, “I filled out the consent form to allow my son to go through the process that the Illinois State Police have in place for an individual to obtain a FOID card. They do background checks. Whatever that entails, I’m not exactly sure. And either you’re approved or denied, and he was approved.”
Crimo said his son purchased the weapons with his own money and registered them in his own name.
He also says he does not know the motive behind his son’s actions.
“Whatever was going on in his head at the time, to go kill and hurt innocent people is just senseless,” Crimo said, adding that his “heart goes out to all of the families that were affected.”
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Steve Greenberg, the attorney who once represented R. Kelly, is now representing the elder Crimo and his wife.
“The parents want everyone to realize that that they are suffering along with everyone else that they feel for everyone,” Greenberg said.
ABC News contributed to this report.
