‘Booby’ Crimo, the alleged perpetrator of the shooting that killed six people in Highland Park, was known on social media for his songs, recorded violent videos and was obsessed with presidential limousines
Highland Park was known as the summer home of the Chicago Philharmonic for 90 years, but since Monday it has been the site of the July 4 massacre. Likewise, at age 21, “Bobby” Crimo III was known on social networks as “Awake the Rapper,” where some of his songs had been downloaded nearly two million times. Since police arrested him eight hours after the massacre that shook the country on Independence Day by leaving six dead between 8 and 84 and more than 30 injured, Spotify and YouTube have suspended their accounts. Now he’s just the suspected perpetrator of the Highland Park massacre.
He could have been the mayor’s son, as his father came second in the local elections, but instead he was just the “Cub Scout” that the current mayor, Nancy Rotering, looked after when he was a kid. “It’s one of those things where you step back and ask yourself, how could this kid become so angry and hateful, able to take the lives of innocent people who just passed by for a day? family?” , the mayor asked on the NBC network. “How could something like this happen? He was just a kid.”
A tattooed boy who recorded violent videos and donned Donald Trump’s flag as a cape after attending his rallies. There were chilling clues, not just the swastikas he printed on his videos, but the gory animated images of himself with a gun in an empty classroom. Or his obsession with presidential limousines and a newspaper from nearly 60 years ago that he hung in his room: “Lee Oswald Killed During the Prison Change,” recalled the cover about the assassin of John F Kennedy. Still, his family say they noticed “no sign” that he could be insane or have violent intentions, his uncle told local television. Crimo III was the middle of three brothers and lived with his father and uncle, of Italian descent.
There was nothing to indicate that the quiet city of 30,000, founded by German immigrants in the mid-1800s 40 kilometers north of Chicago, could become the scene of another senseless shooting, except just that: Mass shootings usually take place. in the most peaceful and quiet of the country. The haunting memory that it could have happened anywhere meant this: No one is safe. Mass shootings are now about as American as 4th of July barbecues. In this area of Illinois where about 40 families were hospitalized or funeral home Monday morning, many were left with unlit coals.
Highland Park residents are predominantly white and earn an average income of $150,000 per year, which is double the national average. The town has been described as one of those beautiful affluent developments with fountains and lawns, but no gates or barriers to block access. Among the celebrities who have lived in the quiet streets, where no one is afraid to go for a walk alone at night, the then basketball player Michael Jordan stands out. However, there are also Spanish immigrants, such as the family of Nicolás Toledo, a 76-year-old Mexican grandfather who came to visit his grandchildren two months ago. Monday he was reluctant to go with them to the parade, they had to force him. With his walker and health problems, he thought he wasn’t mobile enough to navigate the crowd, but his family had no intention of leaving him home alone. For the shooter aiming his rifle from a shop roof, this was the best possible target. Four fatal shots fell on him. To his son, who tried to protect him, one in the arm. And her granddaughter’s boyfriend, another one from behind as she ran for safety.
On Central Avenue where the orchestra paraded, just as the shots from the automatic rifle began to sound like machine guns, the American flags, the 4th of July hats, and even the bicycles and children’s carts were left behind. At first no one moved. These are days when fireworks sound on every corner, in anticipation of the fireworks that end the celebration of independence in all cities. Until someone shouted, “It’s shots!”, many sat quietly on the curbs, recording on their phones the orchestra that had suddenly accelerated its tempo and was running, trombone in hand.
“What’s up?”, you hear a woman with a Spanish accent ask in one of those videos. It could be part of the Toledo family, who were so excited about the parade that they put their front row seats at midnight. There is nothing sacred in America except the sacred right to guns.
Source: La Verdad
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