Police previously seized weapons from home of suspect charged in July Fourth parade shooting

The Lake County State's Attorney's Office charged 22-year-old Robert "Bobby" E. Crimo III with seven counts of first-degree murder on Tuesday for the Fourth of July parade shooting that left seven people dead and about two dozen others wounded, authorities announced during a press conference.

Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart said he anticipates "dozens of more charges" against Crimo in the future.

"In the courtroom, we will seek the maximum sentence against this offender. Not because we seek vengeance, but because justice and the healing process demand it," he pledged.

He plans on asking the judge on Wednesday to hold Crimo without bail.

Officers said he may have been planning the massacre for "several weeks."

Crimo had two previous encounters with law enforcement. In April 2019, someone alerted the Highland Park Police Department one week after learning about Crimo's suicide attempt. Because the report was delayed, officers spoke with Crimo and his family rather than taking him into custody.

"The matter was being handled by mental health professionals at that time. There was no law enforcement action to be taken. It was a mental health issue handled by those professionals," Lake County Sheriff Sgt. Christopher Covelli said.

Crimo's second interaction came in September 2019 when a family member told officers about Crimo's sizeable knife collection. The family member said Crimo said he was "going to kill everyone."

No arrests were made at the time, but police confiscated 16 knives, a dagger and a sword from his home. 

Crimo, a 2017 Highland Park High School dropout, made rap music under the pseudonym "Awake the Rapper." 

One music video on his Youtube channel featured drawings of a person shooting.

The incident reportedly happened at about 10:15 a.m. local time in the Highland Park suburb outside of Chicago.

The shooter reportedly fired from a rooftop. Police at the time described him as an 18-to-20-year-old white male with "longer black hair, a small build and wearing a white or blue T-shirt."

A seventh person succumbed to their injuries on Tuesday, a police source told Fox News that afternoon.

Covelli said officers recovered a "high power rifle" at the scene.

The parade was about three-quarters of the way finished when the gunman opened fire on the crowd, and he appears to have been targeting spectators, Covelli told reporters.

Some people fled to surrounding buildings and businesses and are awaiting police escort to leave, he said.

Residents of downtown Highland Park are requested to remain in place while police investigate the active crime scene.

Illinois Democrat Gov. J.B. Pritzker responded to the shooting by pledging to "end this plague of gun violence."