Highland Park 4th of July shooting person of interest: Who is Robert Crimo?

WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES: Authorities have identified a potential person of interest in the Highland Park, Illinois, 4th of July parade shooting as 22-year-old Robert “Bobby” E. Crimo III. 

An FBI wanted poster describes Robert E. Crimo III as a thin White male with brown eyes and neck-length brown hair, weighing 120 pounds. The poster also describes his tattoos: “four tally marks with a line through them on his right cheek, red roses and green leaves on his neck, and cursive script above his left eyebrow.”

The poster describes him as “armed and dangerous.”

Crimo is also known as “Awake the Rapper.”

IMDB describes Crimo as a “six foot Hip hop phenom” born on Sept. 20, 2000. “He’s the middle child of three and of Italian descent.”

Crimo began uploading his music to the internet at age 11, but first gained traction with his 2016 track “By The Pond” featuring Atlas, according to IMDB. His estimated net worth is “$100 thousand.”

ILLINOIS MANHUNT UNDERWAY AFTER 4TH OF JULY PARADE SHOOTING IN HIGHLAND PARK; AT LEAST SIX CONFIRMED DEAD

Crimo is the son of Bob Crimo, president at Bob’s Pantry & Deli in Highland Park. According to his Facebook account, the father ran for Highland Park mayor in 2020.

The rapper released a cryptic track called “Are You Awake” on Oct. 15, 2021. The track appears to suggest that Crimo was planning a life-defining act beyond his ability to stop. The video includes drawings of a man aiming a rifle at another person.

The video also includes an image of a newspaper clipping about Lee Harvey Oswald, who assassinated President John F. Kennedy, and another image of a victim shot with blood spraying from the body.

“Like a sleepwalker, I am unable to stop and think,” he says in the track. “My actions will be valiant and my thought is unnecessary. I know what I have to do, I know what’s in it, not only for me, but for everyone else.”

“There is no past or future, just the now,” he adds. “It is more abstract than I can ever imagine. I can feel the atmosphere pushing me in. It’s unstoppable, like a wave pulling me under, I can’t breathe without it.”

“I need to leave now, I need to just do it. It is my destiny, everything has led up to this,” Crimo says. “Nothing can stop me, not even myself. Is there such thing as free will, or has this been planned out, like a cosmic recipe?”

“It is what I’ve been waiting for in the back of my head, ready to be awakened, It is what I’ve been sent here to do, like a sleepwalker,” he adds.