When someone commits a senseless act of violence, it’s natural to try and make sense of it. Our rational minds look for cause and effect. If we could only know what inspired the perpetrator to extreme actions, perhaps we could prevent another tragedy in the future.
Part of the curse of the carefully curated wokeness that dominates social media is the hyper-politicization of all topics.
When the horrific Independence Day parade massacre happened in Highland Park, Illinois, on Monday, it seemed obvious it was going to be revealed as some kind of radical activism run amok.
However, the more that comes out about the alleged shooter, 21-year-old Robert Crimo III, the more it seems mental illness was the driving force behind what happened, rather than any specific political cause.
The massacre presented clues that suggested it was ideological. It happened on the Fourth of July, a holiday revered by patriots. Killing innocent civilians during a parade for America’s birthday implies intended revenge against the United States and our way of life.
However, as reported Wednesday by the New York Post, Crimo’s social media posts did not show him to be a consistent activist.
Instead, he appears to a bizarre young man who either did not understand or did not care when he displayed inappropriate behaviors.
In 2020, Crimo made postings showing off what he called Sophie, “a teenage sex doll,” the Post reported. He shared an image of Sophie in the passenger seat of his car.
The Post said the vehicle also had “a ‘P**** Magnet’ sticker on the rear windshield, at least four teddy bears in the back seat and a Donald Trump bobblehead affixed to the rear dash of the vehicle.”
Even worse, Crimo later posted a picture of the doll hanging from a noose in a closet, titling it “Sophie Killed Herself.”
He added commentary to the photo, saying, “I don’t understand why” and “Sophie July 1, 2020 – July 22, 2020.”
In addition to advertising his failure with women and a scary morbid streak, Crimo shared the worst kind of racist statements, attacking Jewish, black and Asian people.
He was such a known online presence on a forum called Documenting Reality that users were able to aid police in identifying him as the suspect.
Most people would not share such damaging and disturbing content about themselves online, or if they did, they would remain safely anonymous. The fact that Crimo was so open about it could be evidence of mental illness.
Crimo looks like many antifa members: a scrawny kid with face and neck tattoos and multicolored hair.
BREAKING: Robert “Bobby” Crimo III has been identified as the person of interest in the deadly mass shooting in Highland Park, Illinois (near Chicago). Six were killed & dozens injured at the July 4th holiday parade massacre. #HighlandPark pic.twitter.com/sgjxB0G6aT
— Andy Ngô ?️? (@MrAndyNgo) July 4, 2022
However, no connection between antifa and Crimo has been established at this point.
Maybe he was not as politically indifferent as suggested.
The alleged shooter’s father, Robert Crimo Jr., told the Post that in their last conversation, his son commented on a July 2 mass murder in Denmark.
“He goes, ‘Yeah, that guy is an idiot.’ That’s what he said!” the elder Crimo said. He said his son added, “People like that … [commit mass shootings] to amp up the people that want to ban all guns.”
We might never know the real motives for the terrible crime, but from what we can see now, we can know there were many warning signs about Crimo that were not taken seriously enough.
We have a mental health crisis in this country, not a gun crisis.
