Families of three people killed in the Highland Park Fourth of July parade massacre and dozens who were wounded filed suit Wednesday in Lake County against gunmaker Smith & Wesson, two gun stores, the man who’s been charged in the shootings and his father, accusing them in part of violating Illinois consumer laws in the lead-up to the attack.
“Our legal theory on the complaint is that this was predictable and preventable,” said attorney Anthony Romanucci, whose Romanucci & Blandin law firm is part of a legal team filing 10 lawsuits on behalf of more than 40 individuals or estates asserting the “shooter was the type of a young consumer susceptible to Smith & Wesson’s deceptive and unfair marketing, and was enabled by his father.”
The civil lawsuits now pending in Lake County are separate from the criminal charges that shooting suspect Robert Crimo III faces and assert the defendants violated the Illinois Consumer Fraud Act, which prohibits consumer fraud and deceptive practices.
An 11th lawsuit was filed by another legal team for a plaintiff and a 12th case, representing another person shot dead, will be filed at a later date. All the lawsuits, which could have wide implications for gunmakers, were filed against the following parties:
— Smith & Wesson, the maker of the M&P15 line, the assault-style weapon used in the July 4 attack that killed seven people and wounded more than 48.
The gunmaker, the lawsuits say, “markets its assault rifles to young, impulsive men by appealing to their propensity for risk and excitement” by maintaining an active presence on social media using violent video games — including ones played by Crimo — and social influencers as marketing tools.
“For Smith & Wesson, the younger the shooter, the better,” the lawsuits say.
They say the gunmaker’s marketing campaign continued even though Smith & Wesson “knew or should have known in the last decade, mass shooters have used Smith & Wesson weapons as their weapons of choice.”
They also assert Smith & Wesson fraudulently markets its M&P line as “used or endorsed” by the military, suggesting that the weapon “will allow civilians to act like service members and engage in combat.”
The gunmaker “facilitates violence for profit,” those suing say, with “marketing and promotion” that aim to attract “young men looking for military-style rifles to act out a perverse combat fantasy of killing as many people as possible.”
Although Crimo owned several weapons, he used the M&P15 in the July 4 attack because, the filings say, of its “militaristic qualities and its perceived fit for carrying out his mission of inflicting the most violence possible.”
— Bud’s Gun Shop in Lexington, Ky., an online gun retailer, and Red Dot Arms, a gun store in Lake County where, in July 2020, Crimo (then 19) picked up the Smith & Wesson M&P15 ordered from Bud’s Gun Shop.
The lawsuits say the two gun stores never should have sold Crimo the assault rifle because they knew his billing address and were “aware that the shooter was a resident of Highland Park or Highwood,” communities where it is illegal for residents to “acquire and possess assault weapons.”
— Crimo III, who is being held in the Lake County jail on 117 charges of murder, attempted murder and aggravated battery. He turned 22 Sept. 20.
The lawsuits say the shooter “was exactly the type of unstable and impressionable young consumer, obsessed with violence and filled with hatred and depressive thoughts, susceptible to Smith & Wesson’s marketing and more likely to engage in dangerous behavior.”
The filings also reveal the contents of Crimo’s phone, obtained by investigators for the legal team, saying it “contained numerous photos of himself posing with guns, sometimes wearing a ‘Siege’-style mask and sometimes wearing body armor. He was ready to go to war — just as Smith & Wesson told him he could.”
On July 3, Crimo “wrote himself a note on his phone outlining the steps required to conceal his identity during the attack,” according to the filings.
The lawsuits also say that Crimo, “almost a year before the shooting,” posted videos “of what appears to be a portion of Highland Park’s parade.” As the Chicago Sun-Times reported in August, the lawsuits note that, in the days before the attack, the shooting suspect “posted hateful messages on the Documenting Reality message board.”
— Robert Crimo Jr., who signed the papers needed for his son, because he was a minor, to purchase a weapon.
The senior Crimo “enabled the shooter’s thirst for violence by sponsoring his FOID application, despite his knowledge that the shooter was disturbed and threatened violence,” the filings state. The father, the lawsuits say, cleared the way for his son to obtain a weapon despite the younger Crimo’s past threats to kill his family and himself.
By the end of July 2020, the lawsuits say, Crimo, although still a minor, had the Smith & Wesson rifle used in the July 4 attack — his first gun purchase — as well as a Kel-Tec SUB2000, a Remington 700 and a shotgun.
The lawsuits say that each of those being sued “enabled the shooter to carry out a massacre on July 4, 2022.”
The Highland Park cases could have national implications because they aim to build upon a landmark $73 million settlement that the families of nine Sandy Hook Elementary School families won in February against Remington Arms, the maker of the AR-15-style weapon used in the Dec. 14, 2012, attack at the school in Newtown, Connecticut. The lawsuit said the gunmaker’s marketing violated Connecticut consumer law.
“When you think about tobacco litigation, when you think about opioid litigation that has been so successful over the past few years, it’s not just one lawsuit,” said Alla Lefkowitz, an attorney with Everytown Law, which also is representing the Highland Park plaintiffs, along with Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, part of the Sandy Hook legal team. “You need numerous successful lawsuits to really make a difference, to really have business reform to really save lives.”
Legal teams representing various plaintiffs — including lawyers from the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence — and Romanucci, Gina DeBoni, David Neiman and Michael Holden from Romanucci & Blandin — joined forces at a news conference on Wednesday at a Northbrook hotel, to send a message to Smith & Wesson — the major defendant.
The legal team, including the Romanucci firm lawyers, Lefkowitz and H. Christopher Boehning of Paul, Weiss — represent more than 40 plaintiffs, including the estates of three people who were killed: Nicolas Toledo, who lived in Mexico and was visiting his Lake County family; Stephen Straus, 88, a stockbroker; and Jacki Sundheim, a staffer at North Shore Congregation Israel.
The Romanucci team filed the first of its 10 lawsuits on behalf of the family of Cooper Roberts, 8, who was left paralyzed after being shot. His twin brother was hit by shrapnel, and their mother, Keely, also was wounded.
As a result of the shooting, Cooper and Keely, the lawsuit said, experience “physical pain, mental suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, anxiety and severe emotional distress” as well as incurring past and future medical expenses and lost future income.
Smith & Wesson, headquartered in Massachusetts, is the main defendant in the case and faces a formidable coalition of lawyers, from Chicago area firms — and from Washington, D.C., — Everytown and the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence.
“This coalition is HP Strong, and we will never run out of energy for this fight,” said Ari Scharg.
He is one of the lawyers representing Elizabeth Turnipseed, who on Wednesday morning was admitted to a hospital because of complications stemming from the wounds she suffered when a bullet ripped through her pelvis.
Reading from a statement Turnispeed sent from her hospital bed, Scharg said, “Every night before I go to bed I relive the same memory from that day. It’s the moment I am shot.”
Turnispeed’s lawsuit also asks the court to issue an injunction against Smith & Wesson to “cease its illegal, deceptive and/or negligent marketing campaign.”
All the lawsuits focused on the images Crimo posted on social media depicting himself in violent situations.
Turnipspeed’s lawsuit noted Smith & Wesson’s ads are “appealing to young and predominantly male consumers ... who are excited by and attracted to reenacting their video experience in real life.” Those ads “gamify the use of firearms in real life, glorify the lone gunman and the militaristic design of the M&P15.” Smith & Wesson aimed its ads and marketing on social media platforms “disproportionately visited by younger consumers.”
Matthew Sims, the lawyer representing the estate of another man killed in the massacre, Eduardo Uvaldo, said the family also plans to file a lawsuit. Uvaldo’s wife, Maria, was also wounded in the attack.
Lauren Bennett, one of the plaintiffs, was sitting with her family near Walker Bros. restaurant along the Central Avenue parade route when she was hit in her lower back, the bullet exiting through her left hip. Her mother-in-law, Terrie Bennett, was shot in the arm. Her mother, Debbie Samuels, was grazed by a bullet. Other family members, according to their lawsuit, including her two young sons and husband, continue to suffer from emotional distress.
“We’re dealing with really, really, bad players out there who have my blood on their hands, and I feel these people need to be stopped,” Bennett said in an interview. “And anything we could do to stop them, maybe, from making one more gun, selling one more gun to the wrong person, then, I think that is a step in the right direction.”
The lawsuits are requesting a jury trial and are seeking unspecified monetary damages.
A bullet punctured the lung of Michael Zeifert, a banker, who is still recovering. He was at the parade with his family. He said he hopes that the lawsuit “holds accountable” the “parties who enabled this.”
His wife, Christine, an optometrist in Highland Park, said in an interview that she saw the gunman firing at the crowd from the rooftop of a sundry store, dressed like a woman. Police have said Crimo disguised himself as a woman in an effort to blend in with the crowd.
The Zeiferts’ four children were at the parade. Now, making them feel safe is “hard,” Christine Zeifert said.
Regarding suing, she said, “I think, as a mom, I have to somehow” continue to press “for positive change.”
Smith & Wesson has not yet responded to a request for a comment. Michel Rioux, owner of Red Dot Arms in Villa Park, declined to comment on the lawsuits. He threatened to call the police if a reporter didn’t leave the property.
Contributing: Allison Novelo
