HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. (WLS) — The survivors of the mass shooting in Highland Park, IL have sued the gun manufacturer Smith & Wesson, as well as the shooter, Robert Crimo III, and his father for their respective roles in making it possible for the shooter to carry out the massacre, according to court documents.
Online gun distributor Bud’s Gu shop and Illinois gun retailer Red Sot Arms were also named in the lawsuit.
“The mass shooting at Highland Park’s Fourth of July Parade was the foreseeable and entirely preventable result of a chain of events initiated by Smith & Wesson,” the lawsuit filed in Illinois state court says. “For years, the manufacturer has deceptively and unfairly marketed its assault rifles in a way designed to appeal to the impulsive, risk-taking tendencies of civilian adolescent and post-adolescent males-the same category of consumers whom Smith & Wesson has watched, time after time, commit the type of mass shooting that unfolded again on the Fourth of July in Highland Park. Smith & Wesson’s M&P rifles have been repeatedly used in such mass shootings, including those in Aurora, Colorado; San Bernardino, California; and Parkland, Florida.”
The mass shooting on the 4th of July killed seven and injured 48 after a shooter opened fire at an Independence day parade.
WATCH | Highland Park shooting survivor recounts terror of being shot
While police say the assualt-style rifle Crimo III allegedly used in the shooting, a SMith and Wesson M&P 15, was legally purchased, the lawsuit says Smith and Wesson “facilitates violence for profit,” and targets vulnerable young men to market their products too.
ALSO SEE: Police say previous contact with Crimo family included ‘clear and present danger’ concerns
“The shooter fits the demographic of customers that Smith & Wesson targeted with its negligent and unlawful marketing,” the lawsuit says. “An avid user of the social media platforms used by Smith & Wesson to promote its assault rifles, the shooter displayed his hardcore violent fantasies online, styling himself on one platform as a “Master Gunnery Sergeant,” and on others as a video game assassin. He spewed hatred online and often posted videos of himself playing first-person-shooter games.”
The lawsuit says that after the shooting, Smith and Wesson portrayed itself as the victim and outlines what the plaintiffs say is a pattern and history of marketing towards young men with a propensity for violence.
The shooter’s father, the lawsuit says, is responsible because he sponsored the shooter’s FOID card, which is necessary in the state of Illinois. The father, Robert Crimo, Jr., has previouslysaid he does not regret sponsoring his son for a FOID card that allowed him to legally purchase weapons, adding that he never expected this of his son.
WATCH | Son of Highland Park victim describes learning of father’s death
Crimo, Jr. said he knew his son was in possession of a handgun, saying that he showed it to him, but said he did not know his son had purchased at least five weapons, including two high-powered rifles.
“I had no, not an inkling of warning that something like this was going to happen,” Crimo Jr. previously said in a July interview with ABC News.
Meanwhile, the Highland Park City Council has agreed to take down the makeshift downtown memorials honoring the victims, with plans to replace it with a permanent monument.
Mayor Nancy Rotering said council members are trying to strike a balance between those who have found comfort in the memorials and those who’ve been upset by them.
City officials said the Highland Park community will have a say on the location and content of the future memorial.
ABC News and ABC7 Chicago contributed to this report.
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