Security director: Suspect in July 4 Highland Park shooting was 'sizing up' synagogue

[Behind the Aegis]

Source: The Forward

The suspect in the deadly Fourth of July mass shooting in Highland Park, Illinois, paid an alarming visit to the city’s Chabad synagogue during Passover, said the congregation’s volunteer security director.

“He was definitely sizing up the synagogue,” Martin Blumenthal said Tuesday in an interview.

Robert E. Crimo III, whom police apprehended Monday evening and have described as both a “suspect” and “person of interest” in the shooting, showed up at Central Avenue Synagogue on the last day of Passover this year.

He stood out from the typical Chabad visitor.



Read more: https://forward.com/news/508979/highland-park-shooter-visited-chabad-this-year-synagogue-crimo-july-4/

[sakabatou]

1. This doesn't surprise me.

[bronxiteforever]

2. Kick & recommend for visibility. Thanks for posting

Important information.

[Rebl2]

3. I am

watching a police update right now and they just mentioned they have not been given any information on that synagogue incident.

[zappaman]

4. Because of course he was. n/t

[electric_blue68]

5. Oh crap. No so surprising. Bastard!

[IronLionZion]

6. But it's mental illness because he's white

No matter how many months he spent planning out mass murder and scoping out targets, the answer is more guns and more profiling brown people.

[mucifer]

7. It would explain why there are several prayer vigils at local

churches, but none at any local synagogues.

I live locally and know Highland Park pretty well . On local TV they discussed where the prayer vigil are despite the high percent of Jews in Highland Park there are no vigils at a synagogue.

My guess is there are vigils, but they aren't publicizing them they are for the local community.

[McKim]

8. Antisemitism is On the Rise!

Antisemitism is on the rise, so my bothers and sisters are feeling the fear. This must be stamped out of our country. These sick people just have to have someone to hate: Lefties, Liberals, Jews and anybody not looking like them!

[leftyladyfrommo]

10. Don't forget women in general. nt

[ck4829]

9. Of course he was

[Justice]

11. This account makes no sense.

Security Director and Rabbi believed Crimo was scoping out the synagogue.

He did not report the incident to police.

“I profiled him. I knew what he was up to,”

If you really knew, why not report the incident to police just on basis the guy might come back and attack them?

Seems very off to me. If you really knew what he was up to, why didn't you act to protect the synagogue from future possible attack or to have police watch him? Police might have looked at his social media accounts back then and discovered the guy was posting horrible things.

[Behind the Aegis]

12. The part you left 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.”

Also: He said to the best of his knowledge Crimo had not broken any laws by coming into the synagogue, and that he had felt he had handled the situation appropriately.

The guard was indicating by saying "I knew what he was up to," to mean "I was keeping an eye on him while he was in the synagogue."

What seems "off" to me is the interpretation you concocted in order to cast aspersions on the guard at the synagogue followed by a variety of "what ifs".

[Justice]

13. I left nothing out. I stated only facts. I stand by my comment

‘He was definitely sizing up the synagogue,’ Martin Blumenthal, a volunteer security coordinator at a synagogue in Highland Park, Illinois, said about Robert Crimo’s visit over Passover.

When Mr Blumenthal approached the 21-year-old, he said that he made sure to feel his backpack – which he says he believes didn’t have any noticeable weapons – and added that he “watched him the whole time” he attended the service before he left on bike.


https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/crime/robert-crimo-synagogue-highland-park-b2116893.html

[Behind the Aegis]

14. You did leave something out and I placed it in my comments.

Basically, you are "looking back" and acting as if the guard didn't do his job properly and therefore, potentially bares some responsibility for the tragedy, all the while calling into question his actions as a guard, and therefore implying the story may not even be true.

So, stick by your interpretation of the story, I will stick by interpretation of your comments.

[Justice]

15. This is nuts. What happened to "see something, say something?"

You and the security director feel he had handled the situation appropriately.

When the guard said "I knew what he was up to," -- the guard then said - the guy was casing the synagogue. The security director said this - quoted as saying this.

The security director even felt the guy's backpack to see if it contained a weapon. THAT's how concerned he was about the guy.

It's a tragedy he didn't call the police.

[Behind the Aegis]

16. Never mind.

Not worth any further discussion.

[Justice]

17. oh well then.

Last edited Wed Jul 6, 2022, 07:43 PM - Edit history (1)

Edited to add: "Tipster Averts Potential July 4 Shooting in Richmond, Virginia"

Glad VA tipster said something!

[Behind the Aegis]

18. Well, if that doesn't prove the schmendrick guard cost 4 Jews and 3 gentiles their lives....

...then nothing does!



BTW, did you see: July 4 parade shooting suspect slipped past Illinois "red flag" safeguards

HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. (Reuters) - The man charged with killing seven people at a Chicago-area July Fourth parade slipped past the safeguards of an Illinois "red flag" law designed to prevent people deemed to have violent tendencies from getting guns, officials revealed on Tuesday.

The disclosures raised questions about the adequacy of the state's "red flag" laws even as a prosecutor lauded the system as "strong" during a news conference announcing seven first-degree murder charges against the 21-year-old suspect, Robert, E. Crimo III.

Sergeant Chris Covelli of the Lake County Sheriff's Office said earlier in the day that Crimo had legally purchased a total of five guns, including the suspected murder weapon, despite having come to law enforcement's attention twice for behavior suggesting he might harm himself or others.

The first instance was an April 2019 emergency-911 call reporting Crimo had attempted suicide, followed in September of that year by a police visit regarding alleged threats "to kill everyone" that he had directed at family members, Covelli said.

more...

[Justice]

19. Of course I saw this.

My comment originally was in response to comment about synagogue.

I see you are moving on to discuss the failure of the red flag system, but doesn't minimize what I said.