Who is Awake the rapper? Highland Park shooting suspect's disturbing social media activity goes viral

Robert “Bobby” Crimo, also known as Awake the Rapper, is a person of interest in Monday’s parade massacre in Highland Park, Illinois. The 22-year-old has now been taken into custody for his alleged involvement in the shooting which left six people killed. As law enforcement investigates the alleged gunman, his disturbing social media activity is making headlines.

Awake the Rapper's social media posts portray disturbing themes. Among the many videos he has posted online, in one of them, Crimo can be heard rapping “f**k this world” as a heavily armed shooter opens fire in a school.

The shooting at Highland Park took place at 10 am CT. Firearm evidence was recovered from the rooftop of a business near the shooting. Christopher Covelli, a spokesperson for the Lake County Major Crime Task Force, revealed that the gunman was using a “high-powered rifle.” He also shared that the attack was “random” yet “intentional.”

According to reports, five adults were fatally shot at the scene, with one person dying in the hospital. 26 people injured in the shooting were taken to hospitals as well.

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Awake the Rapper’s social media activity explored

Robert Crimo, a Chicago-based rapper, goes by the name Awake the Rapper online. In one of his music videos uploaded to YouTube titled Toy Soldier, viewers can see an animated cartoon texting a student in class in the beginning. The video then cuts to the scene where the cartoon fires at people with a long gun resulting in people lying face down in a pool of blood. In the video, the shooter can be seen engaging with police officers outside the school. The final scene shows the gunman lying in a pool of blood. Awake the Rapper can be heard singing:

“I just want to scream/ F**k this world/ Livin’ the dream.”

In another video titled On my Mind, Awake the Rapper is seen in an empty classroom wearing tactical gear and holding the American Flag. He also raps in the video while armed:

“Like a sleepwalker, I am breaking through no matter what.”

Apart from the violent imagery that marks his social media activity, he also posted a video of the Highland Park’s parade route prior to the shooting on his personal blog.

On many of his social media pages, one can see a symbol that roughly translates to Suomen Sisu, a far-right Finnish organization. However, he did not mention them in any of his social media posts. Crimo was also the administrator of Discord channel ‘SS’ which has now been taken down.

On Twitter, Awake the Rapper posted a picture of himself wearing a Trump flag like a cape. In another, he is seen wearing a FBI cap. There was also a picture of him dressed as Waldo in a Trump campaign.

In one of the videos posted online, Crimo can be seen sitting on a bed. On the wall behind him is the front page of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette with the headline “Oswald Slain in Jail,” likely a reference to the death of former President John F Kennedy’s assassin Lee Harvey Oswald.

It has also been reported that Awake the Rapper posted a video of a beheading on Discord. Along with this, he has uploaded a video titled Smiley Face Soldier where he paints an armed soldier with a yellow smiley face on a brick wall, with the Star Wars theme song playing in the background.

Awake the Rapper's IMDb page describes him as a “six foot Hip hop phenom” who is the “middle child of three and of Italian descent” on IMDb. He has also uploaded 30 songs on Spotify. His Facebook “fan club” page has amassed 223 followers as well.