By Ben Collins and Safia Samee Ali -
NBC News
The rifle used in the shooting at a July 4 parade in Chicago's Highland Park, which caused six deaths and 38 injuries, was purchased legally, Mayor Nancy Rotering told the network's TODAY show on Tuesday. of news NBC News.
Rotering added that he does not know where the gun was purchased but "it was obtained legally."
"If that's what our laws stand for," he said, "I think we need to reexamine our laws."
“I don't know how many more of these events have to happen.
We have been talking about this literally for decades by now,” she stressed.
"A person could be seen with a rifle": witness recounts the horror experienced during parade shooting
July 4, 202202:28
Robert E. Crimo III, detained by police after the shooting, took to the Internet his fascination with violence by posting images of murders on social media accounts that appear to belong to him.
Crimo was a rapper under the stage name
Awake,
and his latest music videos included depictions of mass crime.
The most recent, posted on YouTube, shows him at the scene of a school shooting, draping himself in a national flag.
Another music video features cartoons in which a man is wearing a T-shirt with his YouTube channel's logo on it and holding a rifle, before being shot dead by police.
Search for the Highland Park killer on July 4, 2022. Nam Y. Huh / AP
The YouTube account to which these videos were posted is no longer available to the public as of Monday night.
Crimo also had his own channel on the Discord messaging service, where his fans and people who knew him chatted.
The community had a political chat with nihilistic memes.
The most recent post before the shooting, in March, is a photo of Budd Dwyer, the Pennsylvania treasurer who shot himself on live television in the late 1980s, and the caption: "I wish the politicians keep giving speeches like that.
[Two police officers injured in shooting in Philadelphia on July 4]
Fans shared posts that Crimo had made of himself.
An apparent selfie in March carried the message: "Screenshot cursed image and send to the whole world or commit no more life," a message that references suicide.
Following the shooting, trolls from the 4chan forum invaded the community, using it as a rallying point to praise the shooter and post memes about the attack.
The Discord channel was shut down around 6 p.m. ET, just hours after Crimo was named a person of interest.
On video: Police arrest suspect in Highland Park attack
July 5, 202201:40
Crimo also frequently posted on a message board discussing graphic depictions of murders, suicides, and deaths.
The most recent message from him was last week, when he posted a video of a beheading.
He did not often post on his websites about political figures, but he did post two posts about former President Donald Trump.
A video on YouTube from January 2, 2021, appears to show him among a crowd of protesters cheering on Trump's presidential motorcade at an airport.
The young man moves his cell phone at the end of the video to show his face.
Crimo is also shown draped in a Trump flag in a June 27, 2021 post on Twitter.
The post is subtitled only with the word "spam".
[Witnesses Describe Terror and "Horrific Injuries" From Chicago 4th of July Parade Shooting]
Mark Heymann, 22, who claimed he went to Highland Park school with Crimo, said he was a rapper who put out music when they were in school together.
He added that he doesn't remember much about him: "He always seemed a little out of place."
Crimo's father, who appears to own small grocery stores, ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Highland Park in 2019.
The family was known in the neighborhood as quiet and reserved people, according to people who lived on their street.
"He was a loving man."
A family mourns the death of a 78-year-old Mexican in Highland Park
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Michael Gammel, who lives next door, recalled a conversation in which Crimo's father implied that his son had "emotional problems".
Gammel and another neighbor who did not want to be identified recalled the now-suspect in the shooting riding an electric scooter with music blaring.
