But there were signs of trouble in the family. In April 2019, someone who knew Robert E. Crimo III, the man identified as the gunman, called police to say the teenager had attempted suicide, police said. Four months later, a family member contacted the authorities, reporting that Mr Crimo had threatened to “kill everyone”. Officers removed 16 knives, a dagger and a sword from the home, but there was no probable cause to arrest him at the time, Lake County Sheriff’s Deputy Chief Christopher Covelli told reporters Tuesday. As Mr. Crimo’s portrait emerged, authorities said they were examining videos he had posted on social media, some of which showed disturbing plans for mass shootings. “We will look at them and see what they reveal,” Chief Covelli said. Mr. Crimo’s grandfather, Robert Crimo, who died in 2018, was born in the city in 1929, according to his obituary. When his son, a deli owner, ran for mayor against incumbent Nancy Rotering, he said he wanted to improve local regulations to help downtown businesses thrive. “Highland Park is my home and always will be,” wrote Robert Crimo Jr. in an election questionnaire published in a local publication. Ms Rotering, who has been the city’s mayor for 12 years, described the 2019 contest as a “good” race with no nasty campaigns. He won re-election with more than 73 percent of the vote, according to the Lake County Clerk’s Office. Crimos’ long association with the city is typical of many residents in Highland Park, a community made up of many intergenerational families. Mrs. Rotering said she knew Robert Crimo III when he was about 6 years old and was a Cub Scout in a troop he led. There was nothing unusual then about Mr. Crimo, who as a child learned to build fires and camp in the woods like other Cub Scouts, he said. “He was just a little boy,” Mrs Rothering said. He didn’t go to college, but spent time on social media as an aspiring YouTube artist and rapper, according to his uncle, Paul Crimo, who spoke to a local television station, FOX 32. Mr. Crimo’s music videos appear to refer to mass shootings. One video includes cartoon images of a gunman pointing a large rifle and other figures gushing blood. Later in the video, the gunman is found in a pool of blood near police cars. Another video shows Mr. Crimo with a newspaper on the wall behind him carrying a headline about the assassination of Lee Harvey Oswald, who assassinated President Kennedy in 1963. Mr. Crimo, who identified himself as “Wake Up the Rapper,” sitting on a bed in front of the newspaper. The word “Awake” was tattooed above his left eyebrow. Investigators are reviewing the videos Mr. Crimo made and “will participate in the investigation,” Chief Covelli said. Paul Crimo said he shared a family home with the younger Mr Crimo and had spoken to him on Sunday night. “I saw no signs of suffering. And if I saw signs, I would have said something,” she told FOX 32 in the interview. “I’m deeply broken and I’ll be broken for the rest of my life.” Authorities said Mr. Crimo had obtained five firearms after the knives were seized from his home, including two AR-style rifles, some handguns and possibly a shotgun. But the uncle said he did not know where Mr. Crimo might have obtained the gun used in the shooting and did not know whether Mr. Crimo had any mental health problems. Mr. Crimo was a “really quiet kid,” the uncle said. “He keeps to himself and doesn’t express himself. He’s just sitting at his computer. There is no interaction between me and him.” Nicolas Lopez and Andres Lopez went to middle and high school with Mr. Crimo in Highland Park.Credit…Jamie Kelter Davis for The New York Times Jeremy Cahnmann, who ran an after-school program at Lincoln Elementary School about a decade ago, said what stood out to him was that Mr. Crimo and his brother were often left waiting at the end of the day. “When the program ended at 4:30, everyone else had their parents or grandparents or caregivers pick them up and take them home. And the last kids waiting there every day were Crimo’s kids,” he said. He said teachers at the school had spoken of how Mr Crimo’s parents had been difficult to reach. “It was a common occurrence,” he said. “If they needed to keep someone in this house, they just couldn’t.” Mr Crimo, who was about 10 and went by “Bobby” at the time, was “average”, he said. “He was quiet, he wasn’t disruptive and he wasn’t necessarily a problem any more than another 10-year-old.” Nicolas and Andres Lopez, brothers who later attended Highland Park High School with Mr. Crimo, said they were friends with him. “We were a group of five, we used to skateboard in Highland Park and Highwood,” Nicolas Lopez said. “We used to smoke and do stuff in high school.” Mr. Crimo dropped out of high school at one point, but the brothers said there was nothing during the time they were friends to indicate trouble. “He was always quiet and reserved but nice,” said Andres Lopez, 23. “He wasn’t a quiet kid who was dark back then. He was quiet because he was a jerk. He wasn’t bad.” In 2017, the Lopezes’ older brother, Anthony LaPorte, died of a heroin overdose. Mr. Crimo spoke at the funeral, the brothers recalled. “He was very upset, saying my brother was one of his only friends,” Nicolas Lopez said. He said he believed a woman Mr. Crimo was dating also broke up with him around the same time. “That’s when he started acting weird,” Andres Lopez said. “He was isolated.” Alfredo Balbuena, 22, said he had known Mr Crimo since Highland Park High School and described him as “a quiet, lonely kid” who often dressed in black. “He was left alone,” Mr. Balbuena said. “He wore black bands, emo stuff and had a lot of tattoos.” Michael Levenson contributed reporting.
