Robert ‘Bobby’ Crimo III, also known as Awake the Rapper, is the 22-year-old suspect in the shooting killings of six people at a July 4th parade in the upscale Highland Park neighbourhood of Chicago.
According to reports, the shooter, who is still at large, started shooting from the roof of what was once an outdoor outfitting store, killing those in the crowd who initially mistook the sound of gunshots for fireworks over the Fourth of July.
Crimo is from the Highland Park neighbourhood.
He is thought to be operating a silver 2010 Honda Fit with Illinois licence plates that read dm80653.
Awake the Rapper is the stage name of the suspect, a rapper.
He is characterised as white, between the ages of 18 and 20, having a “slight build,” and having long black hair. He is dressed in a white or blue t-shirt and launched an attack with what appeared to be a semiautomatic weapon, which he then abandoned before running away.
Police previously stated that they were attempting to identify the owner of the weapon they discovered in the hopes that it would lead them to him.
An IMDb page about the suspect describes him as a ‘rapper, singer, songwriter, actor and director from Chicago.’
The most viewed video on the rapper’s YouTube channel is the music video for his song: ‘On My Mind.’ The video, showing a the suspect in a classroom.
The track begins as a slow ballad, including the lines: ‘You’re always on my mind. Cutie with the fat ass, I wanna make you mine.’
The song has a sudden change in tempo and shows Crimo reaching into a backpack. The screen goes black and when the music returns it’s dubbed with maniacal laughter and, fast paced piano music and a heavy drum beat.
Crimo is wearing a helmet and bullet proof vest. The video then shows the classroom ransacked with the suspect smiling.
His IMDb page describes him as being the middle child of three who grew up in an Italian-American family in Highland Park, Illinois.
The bio goes on to say that his music career began when he was 11 when Grimo began uploading music online.
His music is in the genre of LoFi rap, according to his Spotify page. He has released three albums, the first in 2017 titled ‘Messages,’ that was followed with 2018’s ‘Observer’ and 2021’s self-titled ‘Awake the Rapper.’
This year he released an EP titled: ‘Brainwashed.’ The tracks included: ‘Dead Again’ and ‘I Am the Storm.’
Grimo has an average of 16,46 listens per month on Spotify.
The shooting began less than 15 minutes after the start of the parade. Witnesses have now told how they saw children being picked off in the crowd.
Six people are dead including five adults who were killed at the parade. The sixth victim died in the hospital. Their age is not yet known.
Nicholas Toledo, a grandfather, was among those killed. His family confirmed his death to CBS.
Chilling videos obtained by DailyMail.com replay how the gunman first unleashed one long hail of bullets before stopping – presumably to reload – and then resuming fire.
Brigham Temple, the medical director of emergency preparedness for Northshore university health system, said they received 20 patients aged between eight and 85 – 10 of them by ambulance.
Four of five patients were children, he said. One of the children who arrived at Northshore was too critically ill to be transported initially. He was stabilized and airlifted to a children’s hospital in Chicago.
Temple said some of the patients were in critical condition.
Of the 25 who arrived at the hospital with gunshot wounds, 19 were treated and discharged home.
One had to be transferred to Evanston hospital. Two patients are still being treated at Northshore.
‘It is a little surreal to take care of an event such as this,’ he said.
‘But all of us have undergone extensive training.’
He said there was a team of therapists and counsellors standing by. His hospital was one of three taking in patients from the parade shooting.
A statement from the Township High School District 113 said that all members of the Highland Park High School marching band and members of the school’s football team are safe and accounted for.
As of Monday afternoon:
- Police are still looking for the gunman, a white male between the ages of 18 and 20, having long black hair and a slim frame.
- ATF investigators are attempting to locate him by linking the name of his high-powered weapon to a specific person.
- It was discovered that the gunman used a ladder to ascend to the roof of a building from an alley.
- Highland Park officials searched for the relatives of the five adults who died.
- Survivors described how they placed their children in trash cans to protect them from the bullets.
- In wake of the shooting, President Biden called for more gun control, and Democrats criticised it as ironic that it occurred on Independence Day and claimed that no one in America is free of gun violence.