Highland Park Mayor Reveals She Knew Suspect in 4th of July Parade Massacre

Before being accused of sow death and chaos in the parade for American Independence Day in Highland Parkthe community in this affluent suburb of Chicago knew Robert Crimo as a quiet kid, a former member of the Boy Scouts.

But in his online activities, the 21-year-old, known to friends and family as “Bobby”showed a strong inclination to violence and he displayed his anger at being ignored by his peers.

LOOK: Robert Crimo perpetrated the Highland Park parade massacre disguised as a woman

“I know him as someone who was a Cub Scout when I was the Cub Scout leader,” told NBC on Tuesday Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering who described crime What “Just a little boy.”

“It’s one of those things where you step back in time and say, ‘What happened?'” he stated after Crimo committed the tragic attack.

LOOK: The lurid messages on networks that showed the violent attitude of the author of the shooting in a parade in the US.

Armed with a weapon similar to an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, “Bobby” opened fire from the roof of a building against hundreds of people attending the traditional 4th of July parade. At least six people died and 26 were injured.

crimewho grew up in Highland Parklived in an apartment behind his father’s house, Bob Crimo, a grocery store owner who had run against Rotterdam for mayor in 2019.

The detainee’s uncle, Paul Crimo, told CNN that his nephew was a “quiet and lonely person”.

“I didn’t see any signs that he would do something like this,” he added.

However, he admitted that he did not enjoy interacting with his nephew: “I hang out with him, but I really don’t like to interact with him.”

dark personality

Despite the general perception that crime He was just an introverted young man, his online personality offered worrying signs.

White, thin, with a patchy beard, the boy has several tattoos on his neck and faceincluding one above the left eyebrow with the word “Awake” (Awake), a reference to his stage name.

He introduced himself as a musician and was known by the internet nickname of “Awake the Rapper”.

Posted his songs and music videos on Spotify and YouTube and had a modest following.

But in one video, computer-drawn images show a figure in tactical gear firing a rifle at a kneeling person begging for mercy.

REUTERS.

Another video shows Crimo in a classroom, wearing a helmet and vest, standing next to an American flag as he sprayed bullets on the ground. A voiceover says, “I need to do it. Is my destiny”.

In another clip, Crimo expresses, “I hate when others get more attention than me on the internet.”

The videos and songs were mostly removed from YouTube and Spotify.

Crimo’s social media pages were also removedbut archived photos from his accounts appear to show him with others at a rally for then-President Donald Trump (2017-2021), dressed as a character from the popular “Where’s Wally.”

Robert Crimo III in one of the videos he uploaded to his YouTube page. (Reuters).

In another, he appears to have a Trump flag draped over his shoulders.

crime “He appears to have had violent intentions for a long time, even illustrating it” in his videos, said Emerson Brooking, a researcher at the Atlantic Council think tank, which specializes in extremist use of the Internet and social media.

But even with the apparent pro-Trump imagery, “so far it ‘doesn’t’ look like he was a partisan or ideological sympathizer,” Brooking said on Twitter, drawing a distinction from the recent tragic mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas. .

Source: Elcomercio