During a memorial for the lives lost after a gunman opened fire at Highland Park, Illinois’s Fourth of July parade, many were wondering: Should the suspect’s parents be held responsible?
Alberto Fuentes, a 40-year-old parade watcher with kids said, “The kid had a problem. The parents had a responsibility to do something.”
Millions of American parents fear for their children’s safety; they could become victims of a mass shooting. Other parents worry about their children – usually their sons – becoming the gunman.
Even though some parents take care to safeguard their child’s mental health, according to researchers, most parents don’t alert authorities when they suspect that their child is mentally ill and has plans to harm himself or others. Such failures result in accusations such as “ignored warning signs” and “enabled the attack by allowing their mentally-unstable son to possess deadly weapons.”
The parents of the gunmen have different ways of coping. Some change their identities and move away. A few sprinkled here and there tell their stories to spread awareness. Others remain hidden, hoping their silence will shield them from guilt and blame.
“It’s terrifying enough to think you might be the victim of some random piece of violence,” said Andrew Solomon, an author who interviewed the parents of the gunmen who attacked Columbine High School and Sandy Hook Elementary School, according to the New York Times. “But to think you might be called out for not knowing, that your child had caused this, is also a terrible fate.”
According to law enforcement officials investigating the Highland Park mass shooting, the suspected gunman’s father sponsored him for a firearms license in 2019. Prior to that, police were called when the young man supposedly attempted suicide with a machete and threatened to “kill everyone.” The father believes he did not do anything wrong and was still in disbelief over everything that had happened.
Now, with more and more mass shootings being carried out across the country by people in their teens and early twenties, prosecutors and researchers are struggling to decide whether parents should be held responsible for providing their children with firearms, for ignoring the obvious warning signs (dropping out of school, depression, isolation), for not stepping in and stopping their children from following through on planned attacks, and so on. According to The Violence Project, a website that collects data about mass shootings, “more than 50 people have killed at least four people in a public setting since 1966.” And that’s excluding killings associated with gang activities, robberies, and other underlying crimes.
According to the New York Times, “Parents are sometimes charged with negligence or manslaughter after a child accidentally shoots themselves or someone else with an improperly-stored gun. It is far rarer for parents to be charged after their children carry out a shooting spree.”
Last year, when a 15-year-old from Michigan was accused of murdering four of his classmates, his parents were charged with involuntary manslaughter (although they didn’t plead guilty). In 2018, when a 29-year-old man conducted a mass shooting at a Waffle House in Nashville, his father was charged with illegally providing the gun used during his son’s killing spree.
After the incident, the Waffle House gunman’s mental health problems were treated and he eventually lost his privilege to own a firearm in Illinois (he and his father are residents there), according to officials. They added that the gunman transferred possession of his guns to his father, who returned a rifle when his son moved away. The officials saw this as a crime.
According to Michael Doubet, a lawyer for the gunman’s father, “When people are over the age of 18, they’re beyond their parents’ control.”
Another example of a parent who did not take proper care of her child’s mental health and allowed him access to guns is the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. According to a state report, the 20-year-old gunman’s mother, Nancy Lanza, never took his failing mental health seriously, letting it gradually deteriorate. She also didn’t restrict his access to guns; as a result, she herself was one of the 27 people her son killed.
According to the New York Times, “The question of parental responsibility is especially complicated for gunmen who occupy a hazy space between childhood and adulthood. They are often still tethered to home but legally adults, and they are often able to pass background checks and buy powerful firearms.”
In the Highland Park shooting, neither of the suspect’s parents faced charges. The suspect, Robert E. Crimo III, was charged with murder and was held without bail. In earlier media interviews, the gunman’s father said that he was not involved with the shooting and had no idea what his son had been planning. He also defended his decision to sponsor his son’s application for a gun-owner’s license, stating he was “following the legal process Illinois had created for anyone under 21 to acquire a Firearm Owner’s Identification Card.”
Mr. Crimo’s parents sometimes argued loudly, causing the police to visit their home multiple times a year, records show. When Crimo dropped out of high school, his parents still didn’t take his mental health into consideration, causing the young man to be “invisible,” as 21-year-old Kate Kramer, someone who knew him from high school, described the gunman.
More and more people are carrying out mass shootings. Parents try to learn how to recognize the obvious warning signs. Whether or not a parent chooses to take warning signs seriously, to get their child help and/or report their child to law-enforcement authorities is that parent’s choice. With more and more people believing parents should be held criminally responsible, the situation becomes more dangerous and more of a moral dilemma for parents, like balancing on the tip of a knife.
Sources: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/10/us/highland-park-shooting-parents.html
Alberto Fuentes, a 40-year-old parade watcher with kids said, “The kid had a problem. The parents had a responsibility to do something.”
Millions of American parents fear for their children’s safety; they could become victims of a mass shooting. Other parents worry about their children – usually their sons – becoming the gunman.
Even though some parents take care to safeguard their child’s mental health, according to researchers, most parents don’t alert authorities when they suspect that their child is mentally ill and has plans to harm himself or others. Such failures result in accusations such as “ignored warning signs” and “enabled the attack by allowing their mentally-unstable son to possess deadly weapons.”
The parents of the gunmen have different ways of coping. Some change their identities and move away. A few sprinkled here and there tell their stories to spread awareness. Others remain hidden, hoping their silence will shield them from guilt and blame.
“It’s terrifying enough to think you might be the victim of some random piece of violence,” said Andrew Solomon, an author who interviewed the parents of the gunmen who attacked Columbine High School and Sandy Hook Elementary School, according to the New York Times. “But to think you might be called out for not knowing, that your child had caused this, is also a terrible fate.”
According to law enforcement officials investigating the Highland Park mass shooting, the suspected gunman’s father sponsored him for a firearms license in 2019. Prior to that, police were called when the young man supposedly attempted suicide with a machete and threatened to “kill everyone.” The father believes he did not do anything wrong and was still in disbelief over everything that had happened.
Now, with more and more mass shootings being carried out across the country by people in their teens and early twenties, prosecutors and researchers are struggling to decide whether parents should be held responsible for providing their children with firearms, for ignoring the obvious warning signs (dropping out of school, depression, isolation), for not stepping in and stopping their children from following through on planned attacks, and so on. According to The Violence Project, a website that collects data about mass shootings, “more than 50 people have killed at least four people in a public setting since 1966.” And that’s excluding killings associated with gang activities, robberies, and other underlying crimes.
According to the New York Times, “Parents are sometimes charged with negligence or manslaughter after a child accidentally shoots themselves or someone else with an improperly-stored gun. It is far rarer for parents to be charged after their children carry out a shooting spree.”
Last year, when a 15-year-old from Michigan was accused of murdering four of his classmates, his parents were charged with involuntary manslaughter (although they didn’t plead guilty). In 2018, when a 29-year-old man conducted a mass shooting at a Waffle House in Nashville, his father was charged with illegally providing the gun used during his son’s killing spree.
After the incident, the Waffle House gunman’s mental health problems were treated and he eventually lost his privilege to own a firearm in Illinois (he and his father are residents there), according to officials. They added that the gunman transferred possession of his guns to his father, who returned a rifle when his son moved away. The officials saw this as a crime.
According to Michael Doubet, a lawyer for the gunman’s father, “When people are over the age of 18, they’re beyond their parents’ control.”
Another example of a parent who did not take proper care of her child’s mental health and allowed him access to guns is the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. According to a state report, the 20-year-old gunman’s mother, Nancy Lanza, never took his failing mental health seriously, letting it gradually deteriorate. She also didn’t restrict his access to guns; as a result, she herself was one of the 27 people her son killed.
According to the New York Times, “The question of parental responsibility is especially complicated for gunmen who occupy a hazy space between childhood and adulthood. They are often still tethered to home but legally adults, and they are often able to pass background checks and buy powerful firearms.”
In the Highland Park shooting, neither of the suspect’s parents faced charges. The suspect, Robert E. Crimo III, was charged with murder and was held without bail. In earlier media interviews, the gunman’s father said that he was not involved with the shooting and had no idea what his son had been planning. He also defended his decision to sponsor his son’s application for a gun-owner’s license, stating he was “following the legal process Illinois had created for anyone under 21 to acquire a Firearm Owner’s Identification Card.”
Mr. Crimo’s parents sometimes argued loudly, causing the police to visit their home multiple times a year, records show. When Crimo dropped out of high school, his parents still didn’t take his mental health into consideration, causing the young man to be “invisible,” as 21-year-old Kate Kramer, someone who knew him from high school, described the gunman.
More and more people are carrying out mass shootings. Parents try to learn how to recognize the obvious warning signs. Whether or not a parent chooses to take warning signs seriously, to get their child help and/or report their child to law-enforcement authorities is that parent’s choice. With more and more people believing parents should be held criminally responsible, the situation becomes more dangerous and more of a moral dilemma for parents, like balancing on the tip of a knife.
Sources: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/10/us/highland-park-shooting-parents.html
