Robert Crimo III, the accused Highland Park, Illinois, gunman, was an aspiring rapper who used the name “Awake the Rapper.”
He was popular enough to have an IMDb page and a fan account. He had millions of downloads on Spotify.
The 22-year-old from Highland Park, Illinois, has a voluminous trail of social media posts, including videos that highlight weapons and show him sitting in a school classroom. He also had an obsession with death videos.
https://mobile.twitter.com/NY_Knux/status/1544091969374257152
The 21-year-old suspect was arrested several hours after the shooting in Lake Forest, Illinois, ABC 7 Chicago’s Rob Elgas reports.
You can see his videos and social media posts throughout this article.
At least two dozen people were taken to the hospital, and seven are deceased. Read a round-up of victims here.
Here’s what you need to know:
Crimo Has a Spotify Account in the Name ‘Awake the Rapper’
TwitterRobert Crimo
Crimo was an aspiring rapper with a Spotify account. One song had 2 million listens. His name was “Awake the Rapper.”
One of his videos was called “Famous.”
He has an IMDb account, which gives a brief bio. It says:
Bobby Crimo (Born September 20, 2000), known professionally as Awake The Rapper, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, actor and director from Chicago, IL. The hip hop phenom is mostly known for his hit song On My Mind which was released on October 8, 2018. The track has amassed millions of plays so far across online streaming platforms.
The six foot Hip hop phenom Awake The Rapper was born Robert Eugene Crimo III on September 20, 2000 in Chicago, Il. He’s the middle child of three and of Italian descent.
Bobby began uploading his music to the internet when he was 11. The world first started turning their heads with the release of his 2016 track By The Pond featuring Atlas. Directly Following that Awake released his fan favorite mixtape ‘messages’ on December 23, 2017. The Lo-fi sad boy then went on to release a second mixtape entitled “observer” on August 10, 2018 and an Ep. called ‘The Future Is Dope’ on his 18th birthday. Fast Forward a couple months and Awake releases his hit song ‘On My Mind.’
His most recent songs were added May 13, 2022. “Brainwashed” is the top song, and he also has one called “I Am the Storm.” The profile photo is a cartoon/anime character with a gun. He posted five songs and appears to have had enough of a following that there is a Twitter fan page devoted to him that some people online were confusing with his actual page.
Crimo also has songs called “Dead Again” and “Gameboy,” as well as “Dumb Diddy Dumb.”
“Just do it,” read a tweet on Crimo’s Twitter page. Another tweet from 2021 reads, “Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. – Luke 17:33.”
The profile reads, “This account has been seized by the ARDT.”
Crimo Was Photographed at a Trump Rally
TwitterRobert Crimo
In 2019, Crimo shared a random video of President Donald Trump’s motorcade. Crimo, whose music was recorded under the name “Awake the Rapper,” was also photographed at a Trump rally. Another picture showed him with a Trump flag around his shoulders. That came from a Twitter page he used called @awake.rip.
TwitterRobert Crimo screenshot
In a news conference, Officer Chris O’Neill said the mass shooting was an “active shooter” incident that was random in nature. O’Neill described the suspect as a white male, age 18-20, with “longer black hair, a small build and wearing a white or blue t-shirt.” A firearm was recovered from the scene. The mayor told CNN the gun was legally obtained.
Crimo was at the airport when Trump landed.
The mass shooting occurred in an affluent north shore Chicago suburb.
Disturbing YouTube Videos Emerged in Which Crimo Refers to Himself as a ‘Sleepwalker…Nothing Can Stop Me, Even Myself’
Disturbing YouTube videos emerged that appear to show Crimo. The account was deleted after the mass shooting.
“Like a sleepwalker…I know what I have to do,” the narrator says in one video.
“I know what’s in it. Not only for me but for everyone else… there is no past or future, just the now. It is more abstract than I can ever imagine. I can feel the atmosphere pulling me in. It’s unstoppable….I need to leave now. I need to just do it. It is my destiny. Everything has led up to this. Nothing can stop me, even myself. Is there such a thing as free will or has this been planned out…it’s what I was sent here to do. Like a sleepwalker…walking blindly into the night.”
He also had a blog page with flames as the backdrop.
He posted this photo that included the thin blue line flag, which supports law enforcement.
TwitterA photo Robert Crimo posted.
He also had a manifesto. One man who saw it wrote that “It is 28 pages long and is composed entirely of an undeciphered sequence of numbers. There is a coinciding video to Arcturus on YouTube, which is composed of footage from the music videos to On My Mind, out.of.this.world, and Toy Soldier. The numbers 23, 47, and 115 seem to be of significance in decoding Arcturus, however, Arcturus remains an unsolved mystery.”
Photos emerged that appear to show him in a Pepe the Frog shirt and at a Trump rally. Pepe the Frog is a symbol associated with the alt-right. There is also a picture of Pepe on one of his Twitter pages.
The video showed parade participants walking normally down the street before they started running as a panic ensued.