Highland Park police records indicate a turbulent home life for the alleged parade gunman – Chicago Tribune

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Highland Park police were called to the family home of the alleged Independence Day parade sniper at least nine times between 2010 and 2014 in response to domestic disputes, according to newly released police records.

Most of the incidents involved allegations of verbal or physical altercations between the shooting suspect’s parents, Robert Crimo Jr. and Denise Pesina. The reports, released by the Highland Park Police Department, paint a picture of the sometimes tumultuous home where Robert “Bobby” Crimo III grew up before he allegedly shot dozens of people enjoying a Fourth of July parade.

A reporter saw a woman on the front porch at the home Thursday, but no one answered the door. Grass grew wild in the front lawn. Faux stained glass-style vinyl stickers decorated the windows, behind which white curtains were drawn. In the backyard, a haunting painting appeared on the faded reddish-brown brick: a tall figure holding a long rifle dressed in military camo with a yellow smiley face for a head.

— Emily Hoerner, Jake Sheridan, Laura Rodríguez Presa and Clifford Ward

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Keely Roberts, who is superintendent of Zion Elementary School District 6, and her husband Jason Roberts attended the Fourth of July parade with their 8-year-old twins, Cooper and Luke. Cooper was shot in the chest and gravely injured during the Highland Park massacre, his spinal cord severed.

Though the child is in critical condition, there is hope he will recover but also fear he may never walk again, said Anthony Loizzi, a close friend to the Roberts family who is acting as their spokesman.

A week after becoming the Republican Party nominee for governor, state Sen. Darren Bailey sought to pivot from his bungled response to the mass shooting in Highland Park by declaring more gun control laws weren’t necessary, saying state funds needed to be better directed for mental health services and trying to cast blame for violence throughout Illinois on his opponent in the fall, Gov. J.B. Pritzker.

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But Bailey’s efforts to move past the controversy ran into problems of their own as the Downstate Republican conflated state gun control laws, misidentified a neighborhood in Chicago where violence occurred over the weekend and even misquoted a Bible verse.

Most companies remain hesitant about leasing new office space, but one kind of downtown business seems ready to move forward with new deals. Landlords increasingly rely on law firms, many on the hunt for better amenities and perks, to fill either new offices or ones emptied out by the pandemic.

It’s not that law firms are growing faster than other businesses. But lawyers are more likely to be back in the office, and the legal industry is further along in striking the right balance between work-from-home and in-office strategies.

Internet scammers are targeting numerous Chicago restaurants, leaving one-star reviews on their Google profiles, and then asking for money to make them go away.

Suspicious one-star reviews have popped up on the profiles of a number of the city’s acclaimed restaurants, both new and old, including Adalina, EL Ideas, Elske, Ever, Galit, Next Restaurant, Nomi Kitchen, North Pond, Oriole, Parachute, Porto, Sochi Saigonese Kitchen and Topolobampo. Many are recipients of Michelin stars or Bib Gourmand designations, highly prestigious accolades in the restaurant industry.

“The stardom achieved by Caan, who died at 82 Wednesday, was ignited by ‘Brian’s Song,’ in which he played Brian Piccolo of the Chicago Bears,” writes Michael Phillips. “It was cemented by ‘The Godfather’ (1972), one of four collaborations the actor enjoyed with Francis Coppola, and exemplified, for many, in one of the sleekest Chicago crime films of any era: Michael Mann’s ‘Thief’ (1981), Caan’s favorite starring role.”

Phillips says Caan’s “tightly coiled physical presence, pugilistic, charismatic and alive, comes through in just about everything.”