Katherine Firkin: Highland Park shooting suspect's father wants son to serve a 'long' sentence

The community of Highland Park, Illinois, is in mourning days after a gunman opened fire, killing seven and wounding dozens more, as the suspect's father revealed in an interview with the New York Post that he wants his son to serve a long prison sentence.
Yellow barricade tape stretched down the sidewalks along Central Avenue, the main route for the Fourth of July parade that was shattered by gunfire. Authorities said the gunman fired a semi-automatic rifle from a business rooftop at crowds below before fleeing the scene.
Robert E. Crimo III, 21, who was arrested later Monday in connection with the shooting in suburban Chicago, admitted to authorities he was the gunman, prosecutors alleged Wednesday during a court hearing where a judge denied Crimo bond.
He faces seven counts of first-degree murder and a sentence of life in prison, if convicted. Illinois abolished capital punishment in 2011.
"I want a long sentence," the suspect's father, Robert Crimo Jr., said, according to a report by the Post. "That's life. You know you have consequences for actions. He made a choice. He didn't have to do that."
Crimo will face additional charges for those he wounded, along with the murder charges already filed, Lake County State's Attorney Eric Rinehart said. "It's vital to the healing of this community that every single victim receives justice," Rinehart told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Wednesday.
Also revealed publicly Wednesday: After the shooting, Crimo drove to Wisconsin's capital of Madison on Monday and contemplated a shooting there before deciding against it, authorities said. That might have been one of two narrowly avoided mass gun attacks at July Fourth celebrations nationwide. Police in Virginia say a tip may have foiled a separate attack plot, unrelated to Crimo, in Richmond.
In Highland Park, residents have been paying their respects in the days following the shooting to those killed or wounded, with some overcome with emotion, others kneeling in prayer.
Hundreds gathered at a candlelight vigil Wednesday night at nearby Everts Park, where a multitude of orange ribbons -- signifying gun violence awareness -- were seen hanging as "Amazing Grace" was played on bagpipes.
As the grieving continues, more people are coming forward to share their experiences the morning of the shooting, including Lily Wathen, who was about to begin marching in the parade when gunfire broke out. Her grandparents were sitting "right across from where the shooter" was located, she told CNN.
"Every single year of my life, we've gone to this parade, and they wanted to be there specifically so that when I passed by in the parade, I would be able to find them there," Wathen said.
Her grandfather was struck by shrapnel in his shoulder, barely missing his lungs, but doctors say he will make a full recovery, she said.
The trauma of the event, however, has "shaken a lot of people up," she said. "It's hard to say how we'll be in a year, but for right now, it's scary to even think about going back."
Two people wounded remained hospitalized at NorthShore University Health System facilities as of Wednesday afternoon and were in stable condition, according to spokesperson Jim Anthony. A total of 39 people had been treated for injuries, he said, and an 8-year-old boy was transferred to UChicago Medicine Comer Children's Hospital, which confirmed the child is in critical but stable condition.
Suspect's father thought he would use weapons at shooting range, report says
The suspect's father decided to sponsor his son's firearm owner's identification card (FOID), a document needed to buy a weapon in Illinois, because he thought his son would take the weapons to a shooting range, the New York Post reported.
"He bought everything on his own, and they're registered to him," Crimo Jr. told the Post.
"They make me like I groomed him to do all this," he said, according to the report, which...

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