Robert Crimo, 21, went to his local synagogue during Passover dressed entirely in black and with black gloves and a backpack, the volunteer security chief said on Tuesday
The mass-murderer who killed seven at a July 4 parade in Chicago ‘sized-up’ a synagogue just four blocks from the scene of the shooting earlier this year, a staffer says.
Martin Blumenthal, volunteer security director of the Central Avenue Synagogue in Chicago’s Highland Park, said Robert Crimo, 21, visited the house of worship in April this year, during Passover celebrations.
Blumenthal told Forward: ‘He was definitely sizing up the synagogue.’
Crimo dressed in a black outfit, including a black hat and gloves. Blumenthal says he was sufficiently-unnerved by the strange young man’s presence to squeeze the bag he was carrying, to check it for weapons.
Blumenthal added: ‘He said his name was Bobby and he lived in the neighborhood. I watched him the whole time.’
Crimo ultimately stayed at the synagogue for around 45 minutes, before leaving quietly. Blumenthal said he didn’t report the incident, because Crimo technically hadn’t done anything wrong.
The Central Avenue Synagogue sits just four blocks from Gearheads, the outdoor goods store whose roof Crimo is believed to have fired the deadly shots from.
A possible motive for the mass- murder has not yet been shared by police, although Highland Park has a large Jewish community, and three of the victims of the shooting were Jewish.
Cops say there is still nothing to suggest the killings were motivated by hatred of a minority group.
Crimo was arrested Monday evening, and was charged with seven counts of first-degree murder Tuesday.
The synagogue was along the parade route and close to the spot where Crimo opened fire
Blumenthal told Forward that Crimo was wearing black gloves and black clothes ‘in the goth style.’
He carried a backpack which Blumenthal said he examined to check for weapons.
‘He said his name was Bobby and he lived in the neighborhood,’ Blumenthal said.
‘I watched him the whole time.’
Crimo stayed in the building for about 45 minutes, then left on his bicycle, Blumenthal said.
Blumenthal said that Crimo did not do anything to warrant raising an alarm with the police, but said that he certainly stood out.
‘I profiled him. I knew what he was up to,’ said Blumenthal. ‘But he didn’t cause a disturbance or anything. So I was just watching him.’
The synagogue, which has armed guards, and where many of the worshippers are also armed, is along the parade route on Central Avenue – four blocks from where Crimo opened fire.
Three of the seven people killed in the shooting are so far known to be Jewish.
Jacki Sundheim, 63, coordinated events and used to teach preschool at North Shore Congregation Israel, a Reform synagogue in nearby Glencoe.
Other Jewish victims have been named as Stephen Straus, 88, and Catherine Goldstein, 64.
The seven murder charges against Crimo were announced in a press conference by the Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart on Tuesday.
Each charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison without the chance of parole.
Crimo is seen on Monday afternoon being arrested by police in Highland Park
Crimo is believed to have fled the scene after the massacre by donning women’s clothing (above)
Crimo’s social media was full of clips glorifying violence and idolizing school shooters
Rinehart said that Crimo could be facing nearly a dozen further charges, including assault and attempted murder.
He said: ‘These are the first of many charges.’
During the press conference, Rinehart did not speculate on the motive for the shooting.
The attorney did praise red flag laws and called for a nationwide ban on assault rifles.
He added that when Crimo makes his first appearance in court via Zoom on July 6, prosecutors will be asking for him to be held without bail.
The suspect is being represented by high-profile defense attorney Thomas Durkin.
Durkin told DailyMail.com that he was first contacted by the suspect’s family on the day of the shooting and retained the following day.
He added that he did not have any further knowledge about the shooting other than what is already in the public domain.
Bob Crimo Sr arriving home on Tuesday, talking on the phone
Crimo’s father Bob Sr. was cornered by police as he arrives at home on Tuesday
Police interviewing the father of Highland Park shooter on Tuesday. He has not yet issued any public comment
The suspect’s uncle told CNN that the FBI made contact with the family around 2:30 pm on the day of the shooting
The gunman’s car outside his home in Highland Park, Illinois, on Tuesday. He was obsessed with the number 47 – which is the date of July 4th in reverse
Police at first said that Crimo was not known to them, but on Tuesday they revealed he was interviewed twice by authorities in 2019.
The first was in April 2019 a week after he threatened to kill himself. The second was in September 2019, after he threatened to ‘kill everyone’ in his family.
Police recovered 16 knives, a dagger and sword from his home but he was not arrested.
Instead, he was able to turn 21 and buy two assault rifles in Illinois, along with three other types of gun. It remains unclear why the two previous incidents were not flagged when he legally purchased the weapons.
Chris Covelli of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office disclosed the prior incidents at a press conference on Tuesday afternoon.
In the April 2019 incident, ‘an individual contacted Highland Park department a week after learning of him attempting to suicide. It was a delayed report.
‘They responded to the residence, spoke to him, his parents and the matter was being handled with the mental health profession. There was no law enforcement action to be taken.
‘In September 2019, a family remember reported that he said he was going to “kill everyone” and that he had a collection of knives. They responded and took 16 knives and a dagger from his home.
‘There was no probable cause to arrest and no complaints assigned by the victims. They did notify the Illinois State Police.’
Six of the seven people that were killed in the shooting have been named.
They are Steve Straus, 88; Katherine Baldstein, 64; Jacki Sondheim, 63; Nicholas Toledo Zaragoza, 78; and husband and wife Irina and Kevin McCarthy, 35 and 37.
The McCarthys leave behind a two-year-old son, Aiden, who was found wandering alone in the aftermath of the shooting.
After the attack on Monday, Crimo fled among frightened parade-goers, pretending to be one of the victims, and went to his mother’s house.
Police said they do not think she knew that he was the shooter when he asked her for her car.
She gave it to him and he fled the area.
It comes as questions over the gunman’s motive, lifestyle and his obsession with the numbers 47 arise.
Crimo had a 47 tattoo on his cheek and the numbers are emblazoned on the side of a car.
The vehicle was left abandoned in the front yard of his home on Tuesday, after it was raided by FBI agents.
Crimo also posted the number all over his social media accounts, where he also shared ominous rap videos that glamorized school shootings.
The gunman’s car outside his home in Highland Park, Illinois, on Tuesday. He was obsessed with the number 47 – which is the date of July 4th in reverse
Paul Crimo, his uncle, has since told how he was behaving normally on Sunday night.
He claims he showed ‘no signs of violence’ – despite YouTube rap videos in which he glamorized school shootings.
‘I’m heartbroken. I’m so heartbroken. There were no signs that I saw that would make him do this. He’s a quiet kid. He’s usually on his own. He’s a lonely, quiet person. He keeps everything to himself,’ he told CNN.
In the same interview, Paul Crimo confirmed that his nephew lived in a small apartment behind the house owned by Bob Crimo Jr., along Pleasant Avenue in Highwood.
‘Everything was as normal,’ he said, adding that he was sitting on a recliner in his home the night before the shooting, looking at his computer.
‘We are good people here, and to have this is devastating. I’m so heartbroken for all the families who lost their lives.’
In a separate interview with Fox32, Paul Crimo said: ‘I saw no signs of trouble. And if I did see signs, I would have said something.
‘I’m deeply heartbroken and I’ll be heartbroken for the rest of my life.’
Highland Park shooter Bobby Crimo, right, with his mom Denise (main in red), half-sister Lynette (second left) and younger brother Sam in a 2017 photo
Bobby Crimo, 21, (right) with his little brother Sam (left). The pair attended Lincoln Elementary School and between 2008 and 2014, they attended the LEAP afterschool program. They were routinely the last kids to be picked up, according to coaches who taught them
Crimo’s parents have not yet addressed the attack. His father Bob Sr. ran unsuccessfully for mayor against Nancy Rotering.
On Tuesday morning, Rotering confirmed that Crimo ‘legally obtained’ his weapon. She said she taught him when he was a cub scout, and that he was a normal ‘little boy’. Police are yet to confirm what type of weapon he used, but witnesses and videos suggest it was a high-powered rifle.
‘It’s one of those situations where you stand back and ask, what happened? How did somebody become this angry, this hateful, to then take it out on innocent people who were just literally having a family day out.?
‘He was just a little boy,’ she said.
The gunman opened fire at 10.14am on Monday, barely 15 minutes into the parade. He then fled the scene and hid throughout the day before eventually being arrested at 6.30pm in Lake Forrest, eight miles north of where the massacre unfolded
Little boy, 2, found bloodied and alone during Highland Park parade shooting is ORPHANED after both his parents were killed in massacre
The little boy who was found bloodied during the Highland Park parade shooting on Monday and lifted from underneath his father is left orphaned after both is parents were killed in the gruesome attack.
Kevin McCarthy, 37, and Irina McCarthy, 35, were among the seven people killed during the Fourth of July celebration.
Their two-year-old son, Aiden, had been separated from his parents during the chaos and luckily unharmed. He has been placed in the care of his grandparents.
A GoFundMe page was established to help Aiden’s family with ‘raising, caring for and supporting’ him. The account has already raised more than $79,000.
The little boy who was found bloodied during the Highland Park parade shooting on Monday and lifted from underneath his father is left orphaned after both is parents were killed in the gruesome attack
Aiden was found by Lauren Silva, 38, of Deerfield, and her boyfriend after they heard gunshots as they were heading to breakfast at Walker Bros restaurant.
Silva told the Daily Beast they emerged from a parking garage a few blocks away from the shooting just as the violence began to unfold.
‘We were just opening the door to walk up the stairs and we heard it…boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom,’ she told the Beast. ‘And it sounded like someone was, like, pounding on the glass doors.’
Silva and her boyfriend and his son began running toward those who were injured, when suddenly, her boyfriend thrusted the little boy into her arms.
‘My boyfriend handed me this little boy and said he was underneath this father who was shot in the leg,’ she told the Beast.
‘They were trying to stop the bleeding so I brought the boy downstairs into the garage.’
Once inside the garage, she managed to clean out his scrapes and washed the blood off him. She said he was wearing one shoe and his sock was covered in blood.
‘He kept asking if mom and dad are going to come back soon,’ she said.
Kevin McCarthy, 37, and Irina McCarthy, 35, were among the seven people killed during the Fourth of July celebration
Silva reemerged from the parking garage after 20 minutes to see how the father was doing. She handed the child off to a family she was hunkering down in the garage with, who took him to the hospital and later handed him to police. He was eventually reunited with his grandparents, according to Silva.
Dana Ruder Ring, who was taking care of the child until 8 p.m., according to Fox 32 Chicago, posted the original photo of the boy to help identify him.
She told Fox 32 he’s too young to know his parents’ the names.
Silva, a mother of two, said she’s holding on to the memory of the ‘kid’s face and his touch and the sound of his voice.’
‘I feel like I want to hold on to, like, a little bit of emotion that I feel—which is telling that boy that his dad was going to come back,’ she said.