Prior to Monday’s mass shooting, suspected Highland Park shooter Robert “Bobby” Crimo III, 21, recorded several videos, including one of himself building a small shed outside his father’s home, according to blog posts reviewed by the Daily Mail.
“The suspect archived a livestream of him building the small shed where he lived at the time of the shooting. The shed is located beside his parents home along Pleasant Avenue in Highwood, Illinois, just north of where the shooting took place,” the Daily Mail has exclusively confirmed.
Below is one small clip from the full video:
“What’s up, communists?” he says at the start of the video above.
Later in the video (but not included in the clip above), he reportedly says he’s building a “cabin in the city.”
“From there, Crimo takes the camera to show off his car that he refers to as the ‘P***y Magnet.’ The car, which has the number 47 emblazoned on the side, also has a sticker across the rear window reading: ‘P***y Magnet,'” according to the Daily Mail.
“It is unclear if that 47 is a reference to the date of the massacre – with Crimo also recently posting a stream of 47s on a now-deactivated Twitter account,” the British outlet notes.
“Despite being a rapper, Crimo is shown listening to classic rock throughout the video as AC/DC, Blue Oyster Cult and Creedence Clearwater Revival’s anti-war anthem ‘Fortunate Son’ can be heard,” the Daily Mail’s reporting continues.
“During an interaction with live commenters, Crimo says: ‘Death to America.’ After describing to the viewers what his home might eventually look like, saying that it will include a window and a bench, Crimo concludes his video by saying: ‘Goodbye Mr. FBI agent.'”
Another video recorded by Crimo reportedly shows him painting “God’s Not Dead” onto the wall of his father’s home.
A follow-up video shows him speed-painting a “Smiley Face Soldier” underneath “God’s Not Dead” as the theme music from “Star Wars” plays in the background.
“In another video, Crimo posts what appears to be an early morning shot of the street in Highland Park where the July fourth shooting took place. The video is titled: ‘Where is everyone?’ Crimo also posted a video showing him watching President Donald Trump’s motorcade leaving an airport. That video is named: ‘Awake watches Air Force One arrive,'” according to the Daily Mail.
“Other bizarre videos show Crimo repeating the word: ‘Freedom’ and asking the question: ‘Have you been held a prisoner of your own device?’ A similar video sees the suspect saying: ‘I need you to take a leap of faith.’ A group of other videos on his page, appear to show Crimo playing video games including ‘Call of Duty,’ featuring several missions where the user has to fire from a roof on to enemies.”
These videos were not published by the Daily Mail.
Crimo currently faces seven charges of first-degree murder in connection with the Highland mass shooting, but even more charges are expected soon.
“Attempted murder charges, aggravated discharge charges, aggravated battery charges: There will be dozens of more charges against Mr. Crimo,” Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart reportedly said Tuesday.
“If convicted, Crimo would be given a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole, according to Rinehart,” according to local station WLS.
Crimo is expected to make his first court appearance Wednesday.
The motivation for the shooting remains unclear.
In an interview with CNN, Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering described meeting him when he was just a young boy.
“He was a Cub Scout in my Cub Scout pack. Many years ago, he was just a little boy, a quiet little boy that I knew. I see this picture, and through the tattoos I see the little boy. It’s heartbreaking. I don’t know what got him to this point, but let’s ask that question of so many people,” she said.
Crimo’s uncle also described him as quiet.
“Paul Crimo said he had never seen the suspect engage in violence or concerning behavior. He didn’t know of his nephew’s political views, either, describing him as a ‘quiet’ person,” according to CNN.
“He’s usually on his own. He’s a lonely, quiet person. He keeps everything to himself,” the uncle said.
Despite being “quiet” in real life, he was apparently somewhat well known on the Internet and had a small fanbase.
“Crimo had his own Discord server, where fans and people who knew him would chat. The community featured a politics board filled with nihilistic political memes. The most recent post before the shooting, which was posted in March, was a picture of Budd Dwyer, the Pennsylvania state treasurer who shot and killed himself on live television in the late 1980s, along with the caption, ‘I wish politicians still gave speeches like this,'” NBC News reported.
In addition, Crimo styled himself as a rapper named “Awake the Rapper” and reportedly posted violent/ominous rap songs to “several major streaming platforms,” according to CNN.
“In one video titled ‘Are you Awake,’ a cartoon animation of a stick-figure shooter resembling the suspect’s appearance is seen wearing tactical gear and carrying out an attack with a rifle. Crimo, seen with multicolored hair and face tattoos, narrates, ‘I need to just do it. It is my destiny,'” the establishment outlet reported.
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V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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