FBI Investigated Bobby Crimo Over Weapons Of Mass Destruction Plot

HIGHLAND PARK, IL — Federal search warrants unsealed this week reveal new details about the investigation into the man charged with massacring paradegoers from atop Highland Park rooftop on July 4, 2022.

The 22-year-old is awaiting trial on 117 felony counts, including the murders of Katie Goldstein, Irina and Kevin McCarthy, Stephen Straus, Jacki Sundheim, Nicholas Toledo and Eduardo Uvaldo, and the wounding of 48 others.

Robert "Bobby" Crimo III told investigators that he had been planning the attack for years, during which he had traveled the country to stay with people he met through an online forum and learned how to make explosives on the internet, according to FBI affidavits.

A search of Crimo's Highwood home turned up bomb-making materials, including electronic components, two plastic gallon jugs with ammunition duct-taped around the outside, a funnel and two boxes of the binary explosive material Tannerite — components that can be assembled into an improvised explosive device, or IED, an FBI agent specializing in domestic terrorism alleged.

Over the course of voluntary interviews with law enforcement during the 48 hours following the attack, investigators asked Crimo about his plans for the IEDs, according to transcripts cited in the affidavits.

"It could have been used for an incident, it could have been used, but it wasn't. ... It could have been planted if it worked, in theory it could have been planted ... somewhere where it would cause harm," Crimo said.

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Packaging labels indicated Crimo had the Tannerite shipped to his home in May and June prior to the shooting, according to the FBI.

Asked whether he would have used the IEDs, Crimo said, "For this one [attack], no, I had just, you know, possibly if the situations were to line up correctly, maybe. ... If everything lined up correctly, then I would use it, but it didn't."

According to the FBI, Crimo said he had not thought long about using the devices and that he would likely not have followed through because they were unstable and because the plastic jugs may have cracked if he'd thrown them from the roof.

The accused shooter also told investigators that he had considered using a GoPro-style digital camera to record the attack, according to an affidavit referencing Crimo's amateur rap career in which he called himself, "Awake the rapper."

Investigators found numerous damaged electronic devices, and Crimo's MacBook had the phrase "Are you awake," and a symbol used repeatedly in his musical output.

"During his recorded interview, Crimo described designing this symbol to mean 'peace and balance,'" according to an affidavit. "He further stated that he conducted the shooting on July 4, 2022, in order to 'wake people up,' and had 'awake' tattooed onto his face."

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The FBI affidavits provide the basis for search warrants for a hard drive, micro SD card, MacBook and Verizon and Google accounts belonging to Crimo, whose father had already provided consent to search his house.

On one of his phones, law enforcement allegedly found a list in which Crimo typed out the steps he planned to take to hide his identity on the day of the shooting. The newly unsealed documents do not reveal what was found on subsequent court-authorized searches.

Though he has not been charged with a federal crime, he was being investigated for threatening, attempting or conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction, using the mail or interstate commerce in furtherance of the offense. And according to the FBI, Crimo purchased the Tannerite online from Oregon through the mail.

The affidavits also reveal new details about Crimo's actions during the more than eight hours after the shooting in which he remained at large, as local law enforcement across the North Shore warned communities that a mass shooter remained on the loose.

Crimo fled the shooting on foot to his mother's house, where he got into a car. Around 10:37 a.m., he arrived at the house of his father — who has pleaded not guilty to seven counts of reckless conduct over his signature on a 2019 authorization for his son's Firearm Owners Identification Card application.

He then left and headed to the Northbrook home of an associate, who is not named in the affidavits but confirmed in an interview with law enforcement that Crimo showed up around 11 a.m.

Crimo then drove to Madison, Wisconsin, where the FBI said he buried his cellphone, before driving back to Illinois and getting arrested in Lake Forest around 6:25 p.m.

"Crimo was taken to the Highland Park Police Department, where he was informed of his rights and gave a voluntary statement to law enforcement in which, among other things, he admitted to responsibility for the shooting," according to the FBI affidavits.

According to the affidavits, the July 4 shooting took place over about four minutes. Crimo's fingerprints and DNA were found on his Smith & Wesson M&P 15, which surveillance footage showed him dropping as he left the scene.

Crimo's DNA was also allegedly found on rifle magazines found on the roof as well as the bomb-making components, according to the FBI.