Alleged gunman Robert “Bobby” Crimo III posted music videos online that he apparently made that featured sinister lyrics and animated scenes of gun violence. In a video titled “Are you Awake,” Crimo is seen with multi-colored hair and face tattoos and narrates, “I need to do it. Is my destiny.”
The video shows a cartoon animation of a stick figure man, resembling Crimo, in tactical gear carrying out an attack with a rifle.
In another video titled “Toy Soldier,” a Crimo-like cartoon character is depicted lying face down on the ground in a pool of his own blood, surrounded by police officers with their guns drawn. Crimo, who goes by the name “Awake the Rapper,” has posted his music on several major streaming outlets and on a personal website. Facebook and Twitter accounts believed to belong to Crimo were deleted after he was named as a person of interest in the mass shooting that killed at least six people. His Facebook profile picture showed him wearing a camera-mounted helmet, a face mask, and a multi-colored jacket.
On September 24, he posted a video on Twitter showing him sitting on a classroom-like stage, wearing a helmet and posing in various scenes while an instrumental arrangement of “When Johnny Comes Marching Home” plays in the background. He hadn’t posted on Twitter since Oct. 26, 2021, when he wrote, “I’m not a robot.”
In another music video for a song titled “On My Mind,” Crimo performs in a classroom filled with desks, lockers, and blackboards. In the last minute of the video, viewers see a shot of Crimo reaching into his backpack before the music abruptly cuts off. Crimo is then seen wearing a helmet and tactical vest, hurling bullets onto the classroom floor, with music from a popular shooter video game, “Call of Duty,” playing in the scene.