highland park

Father of Highland Park massacre suspect files for bankruptcy

The father of the Highland Park massacre suspect has filed for bankruptcy as he faces mounting legal costs related to the 2022 Fourth of July parade shooting.

Robert Crimo Jr. owes more than $1.6 million to more than 50 creditors, according to his October filing in federal bankruptcy court.

That total does not include the potential damages he could face in a dozen pending civil lawsuits from parade shooting victims and their families. A bank has already foreclosed on his Highland Park property.

Prosecutors say his son, Robert Crimo III, fired an assault rifle from a rooftop on July 4, 2022, killing seven people and wounding 48 more.

Crimo Jr.’s income has dried up, and he reported just over $200 in his bank accounts. He reported making $6,793 in 2023, far less than the $70,400 he reported in 2022, and $72,678 in 2021. He recently worked for three months at a Goodwill in Milwaukee, according to the filing.

His debts include a $2,800 unpaid dental bill, more than $2,600 in unpaid tickets in Chicago, thousands in unpaid utility bills and an unpaid car loan.

The largest chunk of debt is corporate loans totaling more than $1.4 million. Crimo Jr. once

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How rising water costs could drive this Michigan city to bankruptcy

HIGHLAND PARK, Mich. — Surrounded by some of the largest fresh bodies of water in the country, many Michigan cities still struggle to provide their residents with safe and affordable drinking water.

That irony is especially painful in Highland Park, Michigan, an enclave city surrounded by Detroit, may be facing bankruptcy over tens of millions of dollars in water bills — the costly aftermath of a financial crisis that left residents without a working water plant.

READ MORE: How segregation and neglect left Benton Harbor, Michigan with toxic water

Highland Park Mayor Glenda McDonald asked the city council to approve hiring an attorney to help prepare for its mediation in May over its water debt with the Great Lakes Water Authority (GLWA). When the council did not approve this request, the mayor declared a state of emergency and asked the state to approve an expedited bankruptcy to get their financial affairs in order.

“Highland Park’s annual water and sewer bills of $7,000,000, and growing, are almost as much as our total property tax collections of $9,000,000 per year,” McDonald said in a statement in April.

McDonald also said it is “unjust and unconscionable” for 2,000 households in Highland Park

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