The Highland Park Shooting-An Insight

Thoughts on the Highland Park Shooting

After any act of violence, after the initial shock sets in, the first thing people want to do is to find out why and who’s to blame. The recent mass shooting in the US, the Highland Park attack in Chicago, on July 4th 2022, a family area with an especially large Jewish community has caused immeasurable pain to many families, individuals and the community. It has led to deaths of seven people , many of who were elderly with the exception of one young couple, parents to a 2 year old boy who was also at the parade. According to reports, the father of the boy died while shielding the boy . Another young boy, an 8 year old, has also been left paralysed from the waist down after a bullet went through his body and tore through his ‘liver and esophagus, severed his spinal cord and caused so much internal bleeding that doctors had to take extraordinary measures to save his life’. He’ll now need life long care and therapy.

I think about the reality of the aftermath of shootings, that unlike movies and video games, it doesn’t just end when the shooting ends, it doesn’t end with photos of the killer in court in an orange jumpsuit, it doesn’t end with the conviction and it doesn’t even end when the wider public forgets about it or moves on. There’s a boy who will never see his parents again, never know them and there’s a boy who will never walk. This isn’t a video game, there is no replay, this is it. And that’s why people wonder, did this have to happen, did this have to be it?

Robert (Bobby) Crimo III was once a boy too and it wasn’t even that long ago. At 21, he was born into the internet era and he really lived in it. After his identity became known to the police, his digital footprint began to be uncovered and he left a very big one. From posts, to videos to music, Crimo was more active online than he ever was offline. Crimo’s online world has been looked at by top extremism researchers who have noted that in this case, there was no clear ideological motive, which doesn’t mean that there was no influence of ideology or politics at all, but instead points to the fact there was something else at play, something more nuanced that needs attention without dismissing the influence of extremism but also giving credence to the influence of subcultures that glorify and celebrate violence. For more on this- please listen to this important and relevant interview and also please follow Alex Newhouse and Emmi @GamerGirlRights on Twitter.

This isn’t meant to be a suggestion that in some way this is all the internet’s fault and that if the internet didn’t exist, we just wouldn’t be seeing this. Two years before Crimo was born, in the time when the internet wasn’t really in most homes or if it was, it wasn’t exactly the place where most people hung out, arguably the most influential youth mass shooting occurred, Columbine. Columbine is so influential that most people understand what you’re referring to by just giving the school’s name without needing any more information. Many of us, including I, a non-American who has never lived in America and who was only a very small, hardly-walking and talking child at the time, have seen those famous grainy black and white images of the shooters. I remember when I first really learned of it, nearly a decade later, it actually scared me enough that in my relatively safe and gun-free country, I would sometimes have terrifying fantasies in my school corridors, wondering what I would do if I was caught in a shooting. Crimo too had fantasies, except in his, he wasn’t the potential victim, he was the assailant. While in my fantasies I felt the sense of being powerless, Crimo would have the sense of being powerful, of having attention and seeking revenge.

Pain in the Family

According to testimonies of those who knew of him, friends and classmates, they said he was ‘timid’, ‘quiet’, ‘in his own world.’ From bits and pieces found about his family and home life, it seems he wasn’t getting much love or attention. His mother had been convicted of leaving him alone as a 2 year old in a hot car, his parents were abusive towards each other before eventually separating, he was often not picked up from school and a teacher flagged this issue with the faculty, he was chronically shy and didn’t seem to be able to make many friends (although so far there’s no indication he was bullied). Then within a short space of time, he dropped out of school, allegedly attempted suicide with a machete and threatened to kill everyone in house while possessing knives. All of this happened either in front of his parents or with his parent’s knowledge. He wasn’t just asking for attention, he was screaming for it. His father also knew he wanted to buy guns even after all of this took place and signed an application for his son to buy guns legally as in Chicago you need a parent or guardian to sign for you if you’re under 21 (remember, in the US, the legal drinking age is also 21). Crimo was barely an adult, he was basically viewed as a minor, buying guns with the premission of his dad after all of that. Apparently, his dad also helped him get back his knives too, describing it as ‘a collection’ - “You know, I used to collect coins and baseball cards”.

In an interview, his father, who is very well known in the area, owning a popular deli and even running for mayor not so long ago, claimed complete and total ignorance on the issue of warning signs in his son. Crimo had even been living with his dad and uncle, although in some kind of hut thing in the back garden that he built himself …

Okay I know it’s meant to be a ‘tiny home’ but you can’t tell me this doesn’t look like some dark prison cell, does it even get natural light?

His uncle too claims to barely know his nephew, though they seemed to have seen each other every day. His uncle is currently pleading the fifth in every interview, trying his hardest to protect his brother (Crimo’s dad) from any culpability. "My brother always made sure his kids always had a roof over (their) head at all times," he wrote in a text message, adding that Crimo "is a great father." Except, from what it looks like, the son lived in a wooden box that he made himself, not a normal room with natural light which is actually really really important for our mental health. Depression does often make people want to hide in the dark and shut out light, because depression is a bit like a virus that wants to keep feeding itself. Shutting out natural light actually effects our minds, that’s why solitary confinement in the dark is widely considered one of the worst forms of psychological torture.

Photo Credit : Page Goo

The cynic in me wonders if his father cared for him really at all. Crimo wasn’t a manly man, either in in looks or personality. He wasn’t the all-American boy, captain of the football team, big and buff with lots of friends and girlfriends. He wasn’t the academic prodigy, he didn’t get into college and he wasn’t even the average boy with a steady social circle and mediocre aspirations that were attainable. Crimo wanted to be a famous rapper, something I imagine his dad despised from the look of it, he was clearly interested in being creativity, being expressive, which I would also feel his particular father wouldn’t have been thrilled about. Crimo had siblings, including a sister, who seemed to be a lot more stable, social and happier. Crimo was most likely the blackest of sheep, an outcast in school and at home. There’s one piece of reporting that makes me feel that actually while Crimo’s father may have resented his son in some way, Crimo himself may have actually loved his father and wanted to make him proud. In this article, a girl who worked with Crimo and who was in a sort of short romantic *something* with him, says that Crimo had told her about ‘his dream to open a deli with his father’. She actually claims that the reason she stopped talking to him was because she didn’t want to get in the way of that dream as he said he would hold off on it in order to keep working with her. Of course, boys say things to impress girls, having a dream or an aspiration is attractive to most girls, it could have been that, but it’s interesting and potentially significant nonetheless that he specifically said he wanted to work with his father at the deli. Crimo’s mother also didn’t seem too involved and what little we know about her shows a potential propensity towards rage and neglect.

A mural Crimo made at the back of his mother’s house

Romantic Rejection

“He also went off the deep end after he broke up with his girlfriend a few years ago."

Crimo’s other relationships haven’t been reported on much, including friendships and romantic relationships, but there is an indication that a break up when he was 18 may have sent him into a depression spiral and led him to to use drugs as a coping mechanism, Break ups are one of the biggest catalysts for individuals who find their way into extremism, especially among young males.

There’s still a stigma placed on young men who deal with emotional turmoil after break ups, fathers and other male friends are still often unable to really deal with their friends or sons sadness and heart break, using platitudes such as ‘there’s plenty more fish in the sea’ or ‘she’s not worth it, man’. Even on the online world, male only spaces tend to not really offer effective emotional support and feelings of sadness, disappointment and heartbreak are often channeled into feelings of resentment, anger and often misogyny. Even a lot of ‘break up music for guys’ is often just angry music, a la Eminem, with occasional violent fantasies and desires of revenge and retaliation. A break up can be one of the most traumatic events a person can face and especially for teenagers who may have emotional issues, instability and poor coping skills- romantic rejection can be devastating without adequate support, often leading to self destructive behaviours and sometimes suicide. Dismissing romantic rejection or a break up as a benign afterthought when analysing the motives of mass killers (especially very young ones) can seriously undermine the significance of what can be an extremely traumatic and emotional event and hinder effective prevention interventions. Understanding the nuance and ties of romantic rejection, masculinity and emotional support especially in relation to teenagers and younger males who may have a history of trauma is important to being able to accurately know how and when to support young males before they get lost. He was in pain and it didn’t seem like anyone really cared. One reason was probably even because he lost a source of love in his otherwise potentially love-less world, his girlfriend could have been a support he didn’t have from his family or friends, so her leaving could have felt like he had no one at all left, and potentially added to any feelings of unworthiness, self esteem issues and depression. Regardless if that was the case for him or not, that can be the case for many young people.

Leaving Reality

“He definitely thought there was a border in the mind that needed to be broken through the mind,” he said. “Very third-eye type of stuff that kind of goes along with the psychedelic rap and drugs.”

As mentioned in the interview I linked at the top of this article, Crimo was very immersed in the online world and more specifically interested in spaces where reality is bent and fantasy created. Schizoposting in particular is one area of interest he took part in and enjoyed. It may feel strange to some people why anyone would purposefully want to lose their mind, in fact, it’s a huge fear of many people to lose their mind or to be out of their minds which is why hallucinogens such as LSD are not actually the most popular drugs. Kafka made his mark in literature by playing on this fear, creating stories around being confused, waking up in a different reality and being stuck in a delusion except that it’s now real. Losing our bearing on reality is something that most of us would fear maybe even more than losing a limb, as it would incorporate complete psychological terror, fear, panic and isolation. For some people who already feel like they’ve lost control on their reality, or they’ve never had any, the idea of losing their mind can actually feel like a sort of ultimate escapism and freedom. I don’t know what Crimo really felt or wanted, but I do know that there is a kind of place in all of us mentally where we can feel close to the edge, or even have a mental breakdown, from feeling overwhelming stress. Most of us would want to avoid that scenario at all costs, but for some people like Crimo who maybe couldn’t cope anymore with his reality, the idea of leaving this reality for another, a form of psychological suicide, and playing in that new found reality could have felt appealing. Instead of fighting it, he wanted to walk right into it.

Although he may not be found ‘legally insane’ and he may not even meet the criteria for a psychotic break, schizophrenia or any other form of mental illness per say, the desire to want to break out of reality mentally is in itself an indication or sign, or red flag. He needed support. Sure, he could frame it in an artistic manner, a desire to want to explore his mind creatively, and there are many people who do that and there are even studies that look into that, but with Crimo’s series of traumatic events, his age and his family and social life being in turmoil, this should have been noted as something to be concerned about and take seriously. Encouraged by a subculture to play into his desire of living in a new reality, of disassociating from others, dehumanising others to the point where killing became relatively easy, Crimo could have made the transition from quietly depressed and alone to a genuine threat against others. Spurred on by the fact his father seemed to condone his ownership of weapons, even after his suicide attempts (which might have actually signalled to Crimo that his own father wanted to him to die) and his mother largely disinterested in the inner world of her son, as well as a severe lack of ties in real life and constant exposure to these subcultures, mixed with untreated trauma, Crimo had everything he needed to perpetrate violence, destroying lives forever, including his own, and unfortunately, that’s what happened.

With everything said in this article it’s also important to say that there are lots of young men who experience trauma similar to Crimo’s and much worse and who do not go on to commit any act of violence or terror. There are also those who are stopped, sometimes at the last minute, and these are the stories we should share and focus on including this one -

He’s a moany kid’

‘I saw no signs of trouble’

‘He was just a normal kid’

‘We have a distant relationship, we’re not close, we’re not talkative’