Robert “Bobby” Crimo III, the “particular person of curiosity” arrested within the Highland Park mass capturing, used a legally obtained weapon within the Fourth of July slaughter — however was not identified to police, the native mayor revealed Tuesday.
Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering — who banned assault rifles in 2013 — gave the replace whereas telling the “Today” show that she had identified the suspect when he was a Cub Scout and he or she was the chief.
“I don’t know the place the gun got here from, however I do know that it was legally obtained,” Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering advised the NBC Information morning present, with out elaborating.
She mentioned she didn’t imagine he was “beforehand identified to police” earlier than the bloodbath — however famous the obvious forewarnings in his disturbing rap lyrics and social media posts.
“We all know that a number of postings actually mirrored a plan and a want to commit carnage for a very long time prematurely,” mentioned Rotering, who beforehand defeated Crimo’s dad when he ran for mayor.
She revealed that she knew the suspect, a 22-year-old aspiring rapper, suggesting that he “clearly had a psychological breakdown” earlier than the carnage.
“I do know him as any individual who was a Cub Scout after I was the Cub Scout chief … He was just a bit boy,” she advised “At the moment.”
“And it’s a type of issues the place you step again and also you say, ‘What occurred? How did any individual change into this indignant, this hateful, to then take it out on harmless individuals who actually had been simply having a household day?’” she requested.
Nonetheless, she insisted the most important subject was why “we as a nation enable this to occur with such regularity.”
“Sooner or later, this nation must have a dialog about these weekly occasions involving the homicide of dozens of individuals with legally obtained weapons.
“If that’s what our legal guidelines stand for, then I believe we have to re-examine the legal guidelines,” she mentioned, saying that “our values are askew.”
“We as a rustic should have a really sturdy dialog with ourselves… We’ve been speaking about this actually for many years at this level. And it’s a type of issues the place you ask your self, ‘If this displays the values of who we’re, what does that say about us as a nation?’”
She mentioned she was shocked to get calls from mayors in different cities and cities who’ve suffered comparable mass shootings.
“Whether or not it’s Buffalo, New York, whether or not it’s Uvalde, Texas, whether or not it’s Highland Park, Illinois, that is unbelievable to me that that is a suitable a part of who we’re as a nation,” she mentioned.
