HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. – The mother of the accused July 4th shooter in Highland Park once pleaded guilty to leaving him in a hot car for 27 minutes when he was just 2 years old – and attacking his father with a shoe and a screwdriver. recently shows a published police report.
The hot-car crash in 2002 was one of the many encounters Robert Crimo III’s parents — Robert Crimo Jr. and Denise Pessina — had with law enforcement while he was growing up in the affluent suburbs of Chicago.
Police reports show cops were called to the family’s Highland Park home at least nine times between 2010 and 2014 for various domestic violence incidents, including one in which Pessina hit her husband with her shoe and a screwdriver.
The series of reports were released by police following the arrest of their 21-year-old son in the Independence Day mass shooting that left seven dead and 40 others injured in their hometown.
In the car accident, Pessina pleaded guilty to child endangerment for leaving her then-toddler in the car alone – with the windows rolled down – in the parking lot of a toy store. Temperatures reached about 79 degrees the day of the incident, according to police records.
Denise Pezzina pleaded guilty to leaving her son, Robert Crimo III, in a hot car for 27 minutes in 2002. Suspected Highland Park shooter Robert Crimo III apparently had an obsession with the numbers 4 and 7. Daniel William McKnight
In one trial in August 2010, Crimo Jr. told police that his wife was drunk and hit him in the head with her shoe. Pessina fired back, saying she was made to drink because Crimo Jr. “disrespected and belittled her,” the report said.
Just a few months later, in October 2010, the cops were called to the home after Pessina allegedly hit her husband with a screwdriver.
She told police Crimo Jr. “made mean statements to me” and “called me names,” the report said.
Robert Crimo III allegedly threatened to kill his family in April 2019. Lake County Sheriff’s Office via Getty Images Robert Crimo Jr. admitted to the Post that his son, Robert Crimo III, deserves to serve a long prison sentence. Daniel William McKnight
Crimo Jr. later recanted and told cops he no longer wanted the screwdriver charge included in the report.
Neither Pessina nor Crimo Jr. was ever charged with domestic violence for the series of incidents, according to court records.
Meanwhile, the couple also repeatedly called the cops on each other for allegedly trying to drive drunk.
Police investigate the home of Denise Pessina in Highland Park, Illinois on July 4, 2022. Jim Wondruska/Getty Images Robert Crimo III apparently painted a mural depicting a gunman with a happy face on the back of his mother’s home in Highland Park, Illinois. Daniel William McKnight
Crimo Jr. accused his wife in June 2011 of trying to take their daughter while drunk. Pessina then called cops in November 2013, claiming Crimo Jr. was trying to drive to work while intoxicated, reports show.
The parents faced widespread scrutiny after it emerged that the father sponsored the FOID card application that allowed Crimo to legally purchase a cache of weapons, including the semi-automatics used in the massacre.
In an interview with The Post on Wednesday, Crimo Jr. — a onetime local mayoral candidate — washed his hands of any blame for how his son got hold of the gun.
According to police, Robert Crimo Jr. and Denise Pessina were involved in several domestic violence incidents. Daniel William McKnight
The father is still sponsoring the application three months after his son was labeled a “clear and present danger” by authorities for threatening to kill relatives in 2019.
Crimo Jr. insisted he sponsored the application because he thought his son would use the gun to go to the shooting range.
“He bought everything himself and they’re registered to him,” the father told The Post about his son’s guns.
“You know, he drove there, he ordered them, he picked them up, they did a background check on every single one,” Crimo Jr. said, insisting he had “zero” involvement in the massacre.
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