Highland Park parade shooting suspect may have considered using homemade explosives during attack

HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. - Robert Crimo III may have considered using homemade explosives during the attack on Highland Park’s Fourth of July parade, which left seven people fatally shot and dozens more wounded, according to newly unsealed FBI affidavits.

"If everything lined up correctly then I would use it," Crimo allegedly told law enforcement after the shooting. "But it didn’t."

However, authorities also acknowledged that Crimo at times offered "conflicting information" about his plans for explosives that were found in his home after the shooting.

As for his motives, Crimo allegedly said he committed the attack to "wake people up." He said he’d been planning it for years and thought about using a GoPro camera to record the attack, the records show.

Crimo also may have conducted reconnaissance in Highland Park on June 26, 2022.

The set of affidavits, unsealed in federal court Thursday, seem to offer the most substantive details yet about the closely guarded case. Crimo faces 117 felony counts filed in Lake County for allegedly firing an assault rifle at paradegoers from a rooftop in the north suburb. Though authorities say he admitted to the shooting, he has formally pleaded not guilty.

Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart declined to comment through a spokesman. An assistant public defender representing Crimo, Gregory Ticsay, also declined to comment.

Crimo does not face federal charges. But federal authorities sought permission last July to conduct searches following the shooting, including of Crimo’s potential email accounts and electronic devices.

Crimo allegedly told authorities that, after the 10:10 a.m. shooting, he fled on foot to his mother’s house, where he got in a vehicle. He arrived at his father’s home at 10:37 a.m., according to security video. He allegedly said he then moved on to an associate’s home in Northbrook by 11 a.m., and began making his way to Madison, Wisconsin. He was arrested near North Chicago around 6:25 p.m.

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The feds say cellular phone data helped law enforcement track Crimo to Wisconsin, but Crimo also said he buried his phone there. Authorities later recovered the phone he described in the area he identified, according to the affidavits.

Investigators arrived to search Crimo’s residence around 4 p.m. on July 4, the documents say. There, they allegedly found multiple firearms and bomb-making materials — including electronic components like a remote initiator, two plastic jugs with ammunition attached to the outside, a funnel and two boxes of Tannerite.

Law enforcement recovered bomb-making materials, such as electronic components, including a remote initiator, two plastic jugs with ammunition attached to the outside, a funnel, and two boxes of Tannerite | FBI

The affidavits describe Tannerite as a legally marketed binary explosive that, if mixed with oxidizers and subjected to force like a bullet from a rifle, becomes a "high explosive designed to produce a visual and audible display often used in targets for firearms practice."

The feds say the Tannerite was found in its original FedEx packaging, which indicated it arrived in two shipments — one on May 3, 2022, and one on June 1, 2022. A screenshot of an invoice allegedly found on Crimo’s phone described a purchase of 10 pounds of Tannerite on June 1, 2022.

During two interviews on July 4 and 5, 2022, Crimo allegedly confessed to the Highland Park shooting and described the apparent improvised-explosive devices found in his room as "consisting of milk jugs, bullets, duct tape, and Tannerite."

Crimo allegedly said he kept the jugs locked in a backpack because he did not want anyone else in the home to find them and hurt themselves.

Law enforcement recovered bomb-making materials, such as electronic components, including a remote initiator, two plastic jugs with ammunition attached to the outside, a funnel, and two boxes of Tannerite | FBI

When asked what he planned to use them for, Crimo allegedly said, "You know, whatever happens, happens … if I were to use it, it would be by chance because, you know, they are heavy, you can only carry so many things."

The FBI special agent who wrote the affidavit took that to mean Crimo found the devices too heavy to carry to the parade. Crimo also allegedly said, "Of course I had the idea in my mind that it could be used for nefarious reasons."

Crimo also allegedly said, "it could have been used for an incident, it could have been used but it wasn’t." He allegedly added, "It could have been planted if it worked, in theory it could have been planted … somewhere where it could cause harm."

"If it worked, I might have planted it early, or I might have just sat down, left the bag there, and walked away," Crimo allegedly said, referring to that comment as a "theory."

He allegedly elaborated that the devices would have weighed 20 pounds if filled with all the Tannerite, which was too much to carry with his rifle.

When asked whether he would have used the explosives, Crimo allegedly said, "For this one [attack], no, I had just, you know, possibly if the situations were to line up correctly, maybe." He allegedly added, "if everything lined up correctly then I would use it, but it didn’t."

The interviewer then asked if Crimo was referring to things lining up for the attack on the parade, and Crimo responded affirmatively, according to the affidavits.

But Crimo also allegedly said the jugs could have cracked had he thrown them off the roof of the building. Had he used them, he allegedly said they would "explode" and affect "a handful" of people.

"I was either going to rip it up and throw it away or use it but, it, the situation didn’t arise for it to be used," Crimo allegedly said.