Source: Chicago Tribune / Getty
Highland Park, a suburb of Chicago, was the site of yet another mass shooting event that rocked the nation over the holiday weekend. Robert Crimo III, who moonlit as a rapper, was detained by the authorities who uncovered more details since the arrest.
Crimo, 22, unleashed a deadly barrage of bullets from a rooftop, firing several rounds into a crowd of gatherers in the Illinois town on Monday (July 4). The holiday march erupted in panic as Crimo unloaded his weapons, which left six people dead and over 40 others injured. According to local outlet ABC Chicago, Crimo was singled out as a person of interest and briefly tried to escape authorities before he was apprehended shortly after the shooting.
The outlet spoke with citizens in affluent North Shore town and seemingly confirmed that Crimo was a resident of Highland Park who attended high school there. Further research revealed that Crimo, also known widely as Bobby Crimo, rapped under the name Awake The Rapper and a series of videos depicted violent imagery including mass shootings according to accounts. Crimo’s music was also present on online DSPs but both his videos and songs have been scrubbed from those services.
The Washington Post dove deeper into Crimo’s music endeavors and his online trail, revealing that he reportedly attended a rally for former President Donald Trump although the outlet didn’t connect the attendance to the holiday shooting. In fact, it doesn’t appear that Crimo’s motivations were connected to any sort of disgruntled movement in a pivot from other shooting suspects known for spewing racist and violent rhetoric online.
As the investigation moves ahead, the nation once more is wrestling with the fact that mass shootings are becoming far too common. With the gun control debate raging for months now, it isn’t known how this recent incident will add to the conversation.
On Twitter, people reacted to the news of the Highland Park shooting along with some reactions of those who were at the parade. We’ve got those comments below.
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Photo: Getty
1.
I've seen a few tweets about Highland Park being "the last place you'd expect" to hear about a shooting. Plea to leave that thought out of coverage. No civilian place, no matter how under-invested or affluent, should ever have to "expect" gun violence.
— Ashley Brown (@hey_hashbrown) July 4, 2022
2.
Gonna chime into the chorus to say that when I was a kid, Highland Park was so unattainably wealthy that even the rich kids at my $5k/year (in the 90’s) private high school felt average. The fact that a mass shooting can happen there is terrifying. #EndGunViolence #EnoughIsEnough
— Sharon Steed (she/her) (@sharonsteed) July 4, 2022
3.
At least 6 dead, 24 seriously injured. I used to ride my bike to Highland Park when I was a kid. That’s where I’d go to the shopping mall. It’s a quiet town of 31,000. John Hughes filmed his movies there. This can happen anywhere. It’s the guns.
— JennyStamps
(@stampwithjenny) July 4, 2022
4.
Im literally right next to highland park and at my old job we had cops come in 24/7 to eat and they were all such losers i was absolutely flabbergasted that these were supposed to be the people “protecting the people” there is no standard anymore. Why is a man who cant run a cop
— Via (@helpthegirI) July 4, 2022
5.
uhhh haven’t been active but i was at the highland park parade shooting ??? what the fuck ???? is this even real ???? there’s just no way i just lived that. what the fuck.
— ray⛧ (@classcorpses) July 4, 2022
6.
I was at a parade in Winnetka with my son at 10am.
15 minutes north there was a parade in Highland Park that started at 10am and there was a mass shooting.
At least 5 are dead and 19 hospitalized.
The randomness of life is terrifying.
Such an American tragedy on our birthday.
— Danny Parkins (@DannyParkins) July 4, 2022
7.
I live right down the street from Highland Park. This is in my backyard. There is a Metra train that is just sitting outside my building. I was out running errands at Highland Park Target when my brother texted me the news. This is so scary and upsetting.
— Alex Mazza (@MrMazzaball) July 4, 2022
8.
Today people are still celebrating “Independence Day.”
Fuck that independence if it means the facilitation of these murders.
For the sake of our children, of our future, we must stand against this tyranny of death.#HighlandPark
— Bradley Hansen (@bradleyhansen93) July 4, 2022
9.
America so fucked up we got Google Maps mass shooting alerts now #HighlandPark pic.twitter.com/pJWAL5oPl4
— henry (@spacedChi) July 4, 2022
10.
So now, we can’t even go to a parade. My niece & her 2 littles were there. They saw people going down. They are traumatized. WHAT’S IT GOING TO TAKE? I grew up going to that same parade. #highlandpark
— Rabbi Jill Zimmerman (@RabbiJill) July 4, 2022