Suspect Got Gun Legally, Disguised Himself
Authorities say Highland Park shooting suspect posted violent music videos depicting mass shootings
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A clearer picture is emerging of the suspect in the July 4th shooting.
Robert “Bobby” E. Crimo III was arrested Monday night after an eight-hour manhunt. According to authorities, Crimo was in possession of two rifles and multiple other guns, all of which were legally obtained.
The mayor of of Highland Park, Nancy Rotering, told NBC’s Today that the suspect had posted music videos under an alias that included footage of mass shootings.
“We know that several postings really reflected a plan and a desire to commit carnage for a long time in advance,” Rotering said.
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas once opposed Highland Park’s assault weapon ban
Erin Schaff/Associated Press
Highland Park, Illinois, banned assault rifles in 2013, but the decision was swiftly challenged.
The case was eventually brought to the Supreme Court, which ultimately rejected to hear it.
Conservative Justice Clarence Thomas, opposed the ban and wrote in a dissent that the “overwhelming majority” who use such weapons use them lawfully.
“The ordinance criminalizes modern sporting rifles (e.g., AR-style semi automatic rifles), which many Americans own for lawful purposes like self-defense, hunting, and target shooting,” the dissent read.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said the Founding Fathers would not approve of today’s gun laws
AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh
“Our Founders carried muskets, not assault weapons,” Pritzker said Monday afternoon. “And I don’t think a single one of them would have said that you have a constitutional right to an assault weapon with a high capacity magazine, or that that is more important than the right of the people who attended this parade today to live.”
Pritzker also called gun violence in the US a “uniquely American plague.”
“A day dedicated to freedom has put into stark relief the one freedom we as a nation refuse to uphold — the freedom of our fellow citizens to live without the daily fear of gun violence,” Pritzker said.
Highland Park’s mayor says the shooting suspect legally obtained the gun used in the massacre
AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh
Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering said during an interview on NBC’s “Today” show that the gun was legally obtained and slammed the US for its “gun culture.”
She said she didn’t know where the gun came from but said, “I do know it was legally obtained.”
“I think at some point this nation needs to have a conversation about these weekly events involving the murder of dozens of people with legally obtained guns,” the Democratic mayor added. “If that’s what our laws stand for, then I think we need to reexamine the laws.”
Man arrested in Highland Park massacre posted depiction of a mass shooting, imagery of parade site
WGN-TV
The man arrested after the mass shooting at a July 4 parade in Highland Park, Illinois, had a history of posting violent imagery online, including a depiction of mass killing.
The man arrested has a history of posting violent-themed content. He apparently went by a rap alias, according to an IMDB profile, and posted a series of videos with menacing themes.
The Associated Press said that he had a YouTube profile, where he had posted videos depicting acts of violence.
One video reviewed by Insider showed cartoon-style drawings of a mass shooting that seemed to take place in a school or similar setting. “It is my destiny,” says the video’s narrator. The YouTube page hosting the videos had been taken down by Tuesday morning, as had the man’s Twitter account.
Father describes hiding his son in a dumpster to protect him from the shooting
AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh
A father who fled the mass shooting in Highland Park, described using a garbage dumpster as shelter for his family.
Alexander Sandoval, 39, told The New York Times that he was at the parade with his six-year-old son, as well as his partner, her five-year-old daughter, and their dog.
Sandoval at first thought gunfire sounds was part of the celebration: “I thought it was the Navy saluting the flag.”
He told the Times that he became separated from his partner and her daughter, and that he tried to break into a store for shelter with his son, but was not successful.
“So I kept running and ran into an alley and put my son in a garbage dumpster so he could be safe,” he said to the Chicago Sun-Times.
What we know so far about the victims of the Highland Park parade shooting
REUTERS/Max Herman
Of the six fatalities, five were adults who were pronounced dead on the scene while the sixth victim, age unknown, died in the hospital after being transported from the scene, authorities said.
And those injured ranged from eight to 85 years old, hospital officials said.
One of the deceased was Nicolas Toledo. He was 78, his son Alejo Toledo told the New York Post.
His granddaughter told the Chicago Sun Times that before he was shot “He was so happy. Happy to be living in the moment.”
Jacki Sundheim, a local synagogue worker, was also killed, her synagogue said.
The North Shore Congregation Israel said she was a “beloved” member of its staff.
“There are no words sufficient to express the depth of our grief for Jacki’s death and sympathy for her family and loved ones,” it said.
A Trump-endorsed gubernatorial candidate in Illinois apologized for asking people to ‘move on’ hours after the shooting
Michael B. Thomas/Getty Images
A Trump-backed gubernatorial candidate in Illinois has apologized for telling people to “move on” just hours after Monday’s mass shooting in Chicago’s Highland Park suburb.
In a Facebook live stream at 11.45 a.m., less than two hours after the incident, Illinois State Senator Darren Bailey was seen with a group of people in Skokie village, located just outside of Chicago. During the stream, he said that Skokie’s 4th of July parade was canceled because of the shooting, which has left six dead and dozen injured.
“Friends, let’s pray for the law enforcement and even the organizers of this parade,” Bailey was heard saying. “The shooter is still at large. So let’s pray for justice to prevail, and then let’s move on and let’s celebrate the independence of this nation.”
Uncle of Highland Park shooting suspect said he saw ‘no signs of trouble’ in his nephew
REUTERS/Max Herman
The uncle of the suspect in Monday’s mass shooting at Chicago’s Highland Park said he saw no warning signs in his nephew’s behavior prior to the incident.
Paul Crimo spoke to Fox 32 Chicago on Monday about his nephew, 21-year-old Robert Crimo, who was arrested over the incident that left at least six people dead and dozens injured.
Crimo told the outlet that his nephew lived with him in the same house but in separate quarters and that the two barely interacted.
When asked if he had spotted any red flags in his nephew’s behavior, Crimo said he saw none.
“There’s been no warning signs,” he told the outlet. “I saw him yesterday evening and when I went home, I said, ‘Hi’ to him. And then when I came back downstairs, I said, ‘Bye,’ he said, ‘Bye.’ And that was it.”
A doctor who was at the scene of the Highland Park mass shooting said he saw ‘the kind of injuries you’d probably see in wartime’
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A doctor who was in the thick of the chaos during the Highland Park parade mass shooting on Monday said he saw people with “horrific injuries” at the scene.
Dr. David Baum told NBC Chicago that he was about 100 yards away from where people were shot and killed during the Fourth of July parade in the Chicago suburb.
Baum described hearing the “pow, pow” of a “Howitzer-type” weapon and that people began screaming and scattering moments after.
“You saw blood everywhere. You saw bodies down. You saw people screaming, you saw massive amounts of blood in the people who were gone,” Baum told NBC. “There were a lot of bodies. Who was expecting to need 15 ambulances on the scene of our Highland Park parade?”
Highland Park is an affluent city that served as the backdrop of iconic 80s films
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Highland Park has a median household income of $147,067, just over double the state’s median household income of $68,428.
The city has served as the backdrop to multiple iconic films, many of them hits from the 1980s.
Director John Hughes, who helmed “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” (1983), “Weird Science” (1985), and “Sixteen Candles” (1984), was known to favor the North Shore of Illinois as a setting for some of his films.
Officials say they recovered a ‘high-powered rifle’ from the scene of the shooting
REUTERS/Max Herman
Officials recovered a “high-powered rifle” from the scene where a gunman opened fire — killing six people and sending another 24 to the hospital — at a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois, on Monday, authorities said at a press conference.
Chris O’Neill, the Highland Park Police commander, said, “firearm evidence was located on a rooftop of a nearby business,” where multiple witnesses told local news broadcaster WGN they saw the gunman start shooting three-quarters of the way through the parade at about 10:14 a.m. local time.
Cops say they ran to gunfire during shooting, but the gunman had stopped firing
ABC affiliate WLS/ABC7 via Reuters
Illinois police said cops ran toward the sound of gunfire after a shooter opened fire at a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, but by the time they arrived, the shooting had stopped.
Police officials said the gunman in the deadly shooting fired on the crowd from a nearby rooftop. The shooter remained at large as of Monday afternoon.
“All indications was he was discrete and he was very difficult to see,” said Lake County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Chris Covelli.
17-year-old says he and his family ‘ran for our lives’ when shots rang out at the Highland Park parade
ABC affiliate WLS/ABC7 via REUTERS
A teenager who was feet away from the parade when shots rang out in Highland Park on Monday morning said he and his family “ran for our lives.”
The 17-year-old — who asked to be identified as Anand P. — said on Twitter that he retreated to a parking garage.
Later, he returned with his mother to help.
“Everyone was very strong,” he said, adding that “We are recovering slowly but we are fine.”
Spectators were ‘targeted’ in the deadly Highland Park Fourth of July parade shooting, authorities say
Nam Y. Huh/AP
Authorities say the gunman in the deadly Highland Park parade shooting “targeted” spectators.
Christopher Covelli, spokesperson for the Lake County Major Town Task Force didn’t disclose a motive for the shooting but said it “appears to be completely random.”
“We don’t know what his intentions are at this point,” Covelli told reporters.
Shooter opened fire from a nearby rooftop, police say
ABC affiliate WLS/ABC7 via REUTERS
The shooter opened fire on an Illinois Fourth of July parade from a nearby rooftop, police said.
“It does appear that he was shooting from a roof. The roof that he was shooting from — I don’t have that information right now,” Chris Covelli, the public information officer for the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, told reporters.
Highland Park gunman still at large: police
ABC affiliate WLS/ABC7 via REUTERS
The gunman who opened fire at the Highland Park July 4th parade is still at large.
“We would still consider him to be armed and dangerous,” Lake County Sherrif’s Office spokesperson Chris Covelli said.
Police described the shooting suspect as a white man between 18 and 20 years old, with long dark hair, a small build, and wearing a white or blue t-shirt.
