Carlos Santana reportedly passed out onstage during a Tuesday concert at Pine Knob Music Theatre, an outdoor amphitheater in Clarkston, some 40 miles northwest of Detroit, Michigan.
The 74-year-old rock legend was about an hour into his concert when he was “overcome with heat exhaustion and dehydration,” his manager, Michael Vrionis, said in a statement obtained by ABC News.
“Carlos was taken to the emergency department at McLaren Clarkston for observation and is doing well,” the statement continued.
“The show for tomorrow July 6th at The Pavilion at Star Lake (formerly the S&T Bank Music Park) in Burgettstown, PA. will be postponed to a later date. More details to follow thru Live Nation,” Vrionis added.
Santana was introducing the song “Joy,” from his 2021 album Blessings and Miracles, shortly before he passed out, according toDetroit Free Press journalist Jo-Ann Barnas. He was describing the song as “mystical medicine music to heal a world infected with fear.”
Santana was treated for about 20 minutes before medical staff covered him with a tarp and wheeled him offstage, according to social media posts and video.
“Ladies and gentlemen as you can we see have a severe medical emergency,” the venue staff reportedly announced to the audience. “Let’s share our prayers…We need it right now…Please send your light and love to this man.”
Last year, the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer canceled the December dates of his Las Vegas residency to recover from what was described as “an unscheduled heart procedure.” He was scheduled to perform eight dates at the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. Santana also announced that he tested positive for COVID-19 in February.
Former Pink Floyd singer/bassist Roger Waters‘ This Is Not a Drill tour of North America gets underway Wednesday night with a concert in Pittsburgh.
The trek originally was scheduled to begin in July 2020, but was pushed back two years because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The tour features a total 40 shows in the U.S. and Canada, running through an October 8 performance in Dallas. The outing will wind down with a trio of concerts in Mexico — on October 11 in Monterrey and October 14 and 15 in Mexico City.
The tour also includes multiple-night stands in Toronto, Philadelphia, New York City, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
As previously reported, the This Is Not a Drill concerts will be staged “in the round,” a first for Waters.
In a statement about the trek, Roger explained that his performances will offer “a stunning indictment of the corporate dystopia in which we all struggle to survive, and a call to action to LOVE, PROTECT and SHARE our precious and precarious planet home.”
He added, “The show includes a dozen great songs from PINK FLOYD’S GOLDEN ERA along side several new ones, words and music, same writer, same heart, same soul, same man.”
Leading up to the start of the tour, Waters has been posting a series of black-and-white video clips on his socialmediasites featuring footage of him rehearsing with his backing group, and sharing his excitement about the new show and its stage production.
The clips have included snippets of Roger and company playing such Pink Floyd classics as “Shine on You Crazy Diamond,” “Eclipse” and “Another Brick in the Wall.”
The Bachelorette alum Michelle Young is finally shedding some light on her breakup with season 18 winner Nayte Olukoya, a turn of events that left her blindsided.
“I will say this is not something that I foresaw and I’ll leave it there,” Michelle said during an appearance on Ben Higgins and Ashley Iaconetti‘s Almost Famous podcast on Tuesday, adding that she has “good days” and “bad days” and is “leaning on…friends [and] family for support” as she navigates the breakup.
“Breakups suck. Breakups are awful,” she explaining that “what’s so difficult is that it sometimes feels like it’s not in your control. You wake up and you some days you just feel like, ‘OK, I just have to…give it time.”
“But it is this situation where I’m like, ‘This is not how the story ends for me.’ Where I’m at right now emotionally, mentally, like, how my heart feels — this is not how the story ends and I deserve to really make it to that point where I get those things.”
Nayte, meanwhile, has denied allegations that he was cheating on her, writing on his Instagram stories, “Not every breakup needs to have someone to blame. Yes, many of you seem to paint me as a red flag/ f*** boy … But I’m actually a decent guy, and I only want to continue getting better. As we should all want for ourselves,” according to Us Weekly.
Young and Olukoya, who got engaged during the December 2021 finale of The Bachelorette, announced their decision to end their relationship in respective statements on June 17.
Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg via Getty Images, FILE
(TRENTON, N.J.) — New Jersey Gov. Philip Murphy signed new gun legislation into law on Tuesday, making it harder for residents in the state to get a handgun license and high-capacity rifles.
The new laws come a day after a gunman opened fire at a July 4 parade in Highland Park, Illinois, that left seven people dead and over 30 injured.
“In the wake of horrific mass shootings in Highland Park, Illinois, Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, New York, it is necessary that we take action in order to protect our communities. I am proud to sign these bills today and thank my legislative partners for sending them to my desk,” Murphy said at the signing.
The guns safety package has seven bills that include requiring gun owners who move to New Jersey from out of state to register their firearms within 60 days with local law enforcement; lets the state’s attorney general bring a “cause of action for certain public nuisance violations arising from sale or marketing of firearms;” bans .50 caliber rifles and places restrictions on ghost guns.
The law also now requires those looking to become gun owners to pass a safety course to get a firearms purchaser’s ID and the state now has the power to track all ammunition sales in the state through a registry.
The new laws go into effect nearly two weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a New York law that restricted the concealed carrying of handguns in public to people who have “proper cause.”
Murphy criticized the court’s decision, calling it “deeply flawed,” according to ABC News Philadelphia station WPVI.
The Association of New Jersey Rifle & Pistol Clubs Executive President Scott Bach condemned the new laws, saying it ignored “criminals and those with dangerous behavioral issues,” according to ABC News New York station WABC.
Gun control organization Brady praised the governor for signing the bills and urged other states to “pass sensible legislation.”
“Gov. Murphy has strongly and consistently called for common-sense gun violence prevention reforms. Today, the legislature has delivered these needed policies and they will become law,” Brady said in a statement.
(NEW YORK) — More than 40 years after he shot President Ronald Reagan and three others, John Hinckley Jr. said he’s filled with remorse over his actions, but he’s ready to move forward with his life.
Hinckley, 67, spoke with “Nightline” co-anchor Juju Chang two weeks after he was released from federal supervision, and apologized to the families of his victims.
“I’m truly sorry. I really am,” he told “Nightline.” “I’m not sure they can forgive me, and I probably wouldn’t even blame them.”
While some of those close to Reagan are reluctant to accept Hinckley’s olive branch, he said he’s committed to proving to the world that he’s a changed and better man. And he supports laws that would prohibit others with mental health issues from getting access to guns.
On March 30, 1981, Hinckley, then 25, shot Reagan, police officer Thomas Delahanty, Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy and press secretary James Brady outside the Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C., where Regan had just delivered a speech to the AFL-CIO.
All four men survived. Reagan, however, was hospitalized for 12 days; Brady, who was shot in the head, was left with brain damage and was confined to a wheelchair after the incident; Delahanty developed permanent nerve damage to his left arm. McCarthy was also hospitalized and was the first victim to be discharged.
Brady, who went on to become a staunch gun control advocate as the co-founder of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, died in 2014.
Although the medical examiner ruled the death was a homicide and the cause of death to be a gunshot wound and its health consequences, Hinckley wasn’t charged in Brady’s death.
Hinckley was arrested shortly after the shooting and charged with the attempted assassination. He told investigators that he opened fire on the president to impress actress Jodie Foster. He told Nightline that he had no ill will against Reagan and called him ” a good, nice man,” who he thought “was a good president.”
Hinckley told “Nightline” that he was severely depressed, estranged from his family and in full despair when he plotted to shoot the president.
“It was in ways like a suicide attempt just saying, this is it. This is the end of my life,” he said.
Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity a year later in a jury trial and ordered to be confined at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Washington, D.C., under psychiatric care. In 2016, he was allowed to leave the hospital into the care of his mother and with heavy restrictions, including a prohibition on him owning a gun or contacting any of his victims, their families or Foster.
In September 2021, a federal judge OK’d Hinckley’s unconditional release, which went into effect on June 15.
Although he’s barred from speaking with his victims, Hinckley told ABC News that he’s been remorseful for years and felt sad that his actions led to Brady’s years of pain. He shared that he prays every night that the Brady family has a good life.
“If I could take it back, I surely would,” he said.
Hinckley’s complete freedom from oversight is a study in rehabilitation, and comes at the intersection of the ongoing discussions over how the country is addressing mental health issues and the rise in gun violence.
Hinckley said he’s in favor of background checks and waiting periods to obtain a gun, especially with regard to people who are suffering, which were policies that were ushered by the Brady law.
“I think there are too many guns in America,” he said.
President Reagan publicly forgave Hinckley for the assassination attempt, but at least one member of Reagan’s family has not forgiven him.
Patti Davis, Reagan’s daughter, published an op-ed in the Washington Post in September, after the judge made the order to release Hinckley, and said she feared that he would contact her.
“I understand struggling for forgiveness, but it’s like peering out from between the prison bars. I don’t believe that John Hinckley feels remorse. Narcissists rarely do,” she wrote.
Danny Spriggs, a Secret Service agent on Reagan’s detail when the shooting happened, told ABC News that he also doesn’t accept Hinckley’s apology.
“I don’t think that sufficient accountability has been rendered in this particular case,” he said. “I wish him well. The bottom line is those words are easy said [and] now it depends on his actions.”
Hinckley contended that he’s not the same man he was in 1981. He told “Nightline” that in his 41 years of therapy he has “worked hard to overcome [his] illness,” and is confident he will stay on track. His medical team at St. Elizabeth’s, and the judge who released him, seem to agree.
Hinckley has voluntarily been taking his anti-anxiety medication and an anti-psychotic medication, continues to get therapy, and says he has a sound support system with his siblings.
“I just have a great mindset now that I don’t have the depression that I had. I don’t have the isolation that I had. And I just really feel good about things now,” he said.
(NEW YORK) — As more infectious COVID-19 variants become dominant in the U.S., there are renewed signs that COVID-19 cases may be back on the rise across parts of the country.
The national resurgence comes as the number of children testing positive for the virus also sees an increase again.
New infections among children had been on the decline since May, however, for the first time in nearly two months, there has been an uptick in the weekly total of pediatric COVID-19 cases.
Last week, nearly 76,000 children tested positive for the virus, up from the 63,000 pediatric cases reported the week prior, according to a new report from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association.
Overall, totals remain significantly lower than during other parts of the pandemic. However, the organizations said that child cases are still “far higher” than one year ago, when just 12,100 cases were reported.
Many Americans, who are taking at-home tests, are also not submitting their results, and thus, experts said daily case totals are likely significantly higher than the numbers that are officially reported.
Approximately 13.8 million children have tested positive for the virus, since the onset of the pandemic. Approximately 5.9 million reported cases have been added so far this year. Children represent about a fifth of all reported cases on record.
COVID-19 related hospitalizations among children are also on the rise, with admission levels also reaching their highest point since February, federal data shows.
Late last month, all children, six months and older, became eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine — a welcome development in the fight against the pandemic that many parents had been eagerly awaiting.
Although it is still unknown how many children between the ages of six months and four years old have been vaccinated, data shows that the vaccine rollout in older children continues to lag.
Over 25 million children, over the age of five, who have been eligible for a shot since November, are still unvaccinated.
“It is critical that we protect our children and teens from the complications of severe COVID-19 disease,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said in a statement last month. “Vaccinating this age group can provide greater confidence to families that their children and adolescents participating in childcare, school, and other activities will have less risk for serious COVID-19 illness.”
Despite continued encouragement from scientists and federal health officials, overall, less than half of children ages 5 to 17 — about 44.4% that age group — have been fully vaccinated.
An even small proportion — 38.6% — of children over 5, who are eligible for a booster, have received their supplemental shot.
The American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association noted in their report that there is an “urgent” need to collect more age-specific data to assess the severity of illness related to new variants as well as potential longer-term effects.
“It is important to recognize there are immediate effects of the pandemic on children’s health, but importantly we need to identify and address the long-lasting impacts on the physical, mental, and social well-being of this generation of children and youth,” the organizations said.
(WASHINGTON) — Democrats are working to ensure their incumbents and midterm candidates maintain message discipline around a simple pitch to the public on abortion while the party looks to use the Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade to help persuade and motivate voters come November.
Lawmakers and contenders across the country have thus far echoed the same stance: The choice to have an abortion should be made between a person and a doctor. In doing so, Democrats have avoided taking the bait on Republican attacks accusing them of supporting abortions in the second and third trimesters — procedures that are rare but that polls show voters approve of significantly less than abortions earlier on in pregnancies, when access is broadly supported.
“I think we’re certainly going to see the other side try to lead us in that direction, and so I think it has the potential where it can certainly create a lot of gray area. And right now, we’re in a position where I think the people of Arizona are seeing this in pretty black-and-white terms, and they’re more in favor with us than they are with them,” Arizona state Sen. Martin Quezada, who is running for treasurer in a state where all abortions could soon be banned, told ABC News.
Despite that discipline, Democrats are still grappling with various debates on the best strategy around ensuring abortion access — and President Joe Biden has faced calls from others in the party to be more vocal and more detailed with his own plan.
But so long as Democrats stay away from debates over abortions in the second and third trimesters, party strategists who spoke with ABC News argued, the issue will remain politically advantageous in a cycle still largely characterized by voters’ concerns over high inflation, which have helped sharply weaken Biden’s approval ratings.
For their part, Republicans and their conservative allies have repeatedly tried to knock Democrats into more treacherous rhetorical territory — something that Quezada, in Arizona, acknowledged. “I certainly expect they will start to try to dilute that messaging and try to get us lost in that gray area. That potential to lose some support is there,” he said.
Stacey Abrams, the Democratic nominee in Georgia’s gubernatorial race, was pressed repeatedly on Fox News Sunday last month over whether she supported abortions up to nine months. Republican Senate candidates have also cast their opponents as radicals on abortion. And the Republican National Committee has been looking to frame all Democrats as dodgy on the restrictions they would support.
“What’s radical and out of touch is Joe Biden and Democrat politicians refusing to name a single limit they would seek on abortion,” said RNC spokesperson Nathan Brand.
Still, Democrats have not budged.
During her Fox News interview, Abrams said that abortion was “a medical decision … that should be a choice made between a doctor and a woman and in consultation with her family.” She later told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that she would support legislation enshrining the right to an abortion “until a physician determines the fetus is viable outside of the body.”
And in the House, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has been pushing for passage of legislation that would enshrine Roe, the 1973 Supreme Court decision first protecting abortion access, into law — while staying away from language about trimesters.
The need for that caution is borne out in polling.
According to a 2021 survey from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, 61 percent of adults said abortion in the first trimester should be legal in all or most cases. But in the second trimester, 65 percent said abortions should be illegal in all or most cases; and 80 percent said the procedure should be illegal in all or most cases in the final trimester.
Such discipline, strategists said, allows Democrats to instead highlight unpopular stances from Republicans like foregoing exceptions in abortion bans for rape and incest.
On top of that, the Democratic National Committee and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee have each briefed campaigns on messaging to highlight Republican stances on abortion, according to aides.
“I think it’s paramount that Democrats are disciplined here. I think that this is an incredibly powerful issue and incredibly powerful contrast with Republicans,” said Molly Murphy, a Democratic pollster advising several midterm campaigns. “Voters are deeply troubled when they learn that Republicans support making abortion illegal without exceptions for things like rape and incest and the life of a woman.”
To be sure, Democrats still face internal divisions over precisely how to tackle abortion rights.
Party members are debating backing allowances for abortions on federal lands, pushing an expansion of the Supreme Court and enacting a legislative filibuster carveout for abortion to eliminate the Senate’s 60-vote threshold on the issue.
The White House has said it is currently not considering allowing abortion clinics to operate on federal lands over legal liabilities for workers, sparking frustration among progressives. And while Biden on Thursday said he supports a filibuster carveout for abortion — new ground for the president — there are currently not enough Democratic votes in the 50-50 Senate to change the upper chamber’s rules.
Yet some pollsters said the minutiae of legislating on abortion will not resonate with voters as much as the overall issue.
“Ultimately the filibuster is process and not message. Democrats can talk about Republicans prioritizing making abortion illegal without exception and stay away from process, not because the filibuster carveout is bad … but because voters don’t care about process,” Murphy said.
And for Democrats running in conservative districts and states, operatives say they must be allowed to buck the overall party messaging and, if it aligns with their local voters, have the freedom to vocalize opposition to second- and third-trimester abortions.
“How they frame that I think should be reflected upon, one, their personal experience, but also the makeup of the district. We don’t win races in a collection. We win them race by race, individual by individual,” said Democratic strategist Antjuan Seawright. “And I think with every messaging point, it has to be done that way. Anything to the contrary could be a threat to the majority we do have”
On the flip side, Republicans have already dealt with some high-profile lapses in their discipline on the issue.
Yesli Vega, the GOP nominee in a swing House district in Virginia, sparked controversy last month when she agreed with an assessment that it was harder to get pregnant as a result of rape “because it’s not something that’s happening organically.”
Vega later said, “As a mother of two children, yes I’m fully aware of how women get pregnant.”
And when asked late last month if a 12-year-old girl who was raped by a family member should carry a pregnancy to term, Mississippi House Speaker Philip Gunn replied “that is my belief. I believe life begins at conception.”
Such comments harken back to past campaign controversies like Missouri Republican Todd Akin, who lost a winnable Senate race in 2012 after he said victims of what he dubbed “legitimate rape” rarely got pregnant. Akin went on to apologize, saying in a video at the time, “Rape is an evil act. I used the wrong words in the wrong way.”
Now, some conservatives acknowledge history could repeat.
“If we see two or three other candidates or incumbents, especially, using that kind of rhetoric, it’s going to cause headaches for Republicans. No doubt about it,” said Doug Heye, a former top RNC official.
Operatives from both parties said that issues like inflation and wages will likely steer the midterm cycle, with a polling memo from the Republican State Leadership Committee showing that just 8 percent of voters think abortion is a top issue, versus 37 percent who answered with the high cost of living.
But in such a contested cycle, in which the Senate could be decided by any one race, campaign stumbles on an issue where the electorate’s views do not match their base have Republicans concerned.
When asked if a serious misstep on abortion could ultimately cost future control of the Senate, Heye replied, “Potentially so.”
(LONDON) — Preparations are underway in South Africa’s coastal town of East London for Wednesday’s mass funeral service of 21 teenagers who died under mysterious circumstances at a bar last week.
The results of the toxicology report are not yet available, but it is widely believed that they died after inhaling toxic gas or fumes while partying in the Enyobeni Tavern in Scenery Park in the early hours on June 26.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa will attend the service Wednesday.
The 12 girls and nine boys mysteriously died during and after a party organized at the Scenery Park venue. The mass service will take place on a sports field in Scenery Park, after which families will be able to bury their loved ones at separate cemeteries.
Ramaphosa wrote in his weekly letter to the public earlier this week that the country needs to have a “frank conversation” about alcohol consumption, saying increased social acceptability of young people drinking alcohol has become a serious problem in a country where the majority of the drinking population is already classified by the World Health Organization as binge drinkers.
The Eastern Cape Liquor Board has opened a criminal case against the tavern owner, Siyakhangela Ndevu, and wife, Vuyokazi, for allegedly selling alcohol to underage children.
Brig. Tembinkosi Kinana, a spokesperson for the South African Police Service, said the circumstances surrounding the incident are still under investigation.
“The investigation into the Scenery Park incident is still ongoing. There are no new developments at this stage. At an appropriate time and once the results are out, a formal statement will be issued. It has not yet been determined as to when the results will be out,” Kinana told ABC News.
No arrests have been made and no suspects have been named in connection with the investigation, according to police.
The Daily Dispatch, a South African newspaper published in East London, reported that the teens were attending a party at the Enyobeni Tavern to celebrate the end of June school exams. Their bodies were reportedly found strewn across tables, chairs and the dance floor with no visible signs of injuries.
A 22-year-old Scenery Park resident, Sibongile Mtsewu, told ABC News he was at the Enyobeni Tavern when the deadly incident unfolded. He said he was ordering drinks at the crowded club when suddenly the doors were closed and some type of chemical agent was released into the air.
“There was no way out,” Mtsewu previously told ABC News in an interview shortly after the incident. “There was no chance to breathe.”
ABC News’ Morgan Winsor contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Basketball star turned activist Maya Moore and her husband, Jonathan Irons, are now parents to a baby boy.Moore and Irons revealed exclusively on “Good Morning America” Tuesday that they welcomed their first child, a son named Jonathan Hughston Irons Jr., in February.
Moore and Irons wed in 2020, shortly after Irons was freed after spending over two decades in prison.
Moore, who won four WNBA championships with the Minnesota Lynx and as well as league MVP in 2014, stepped away from the game at the height of her career to focus full time on helping Irons overturn his conviction.
At 16 years old, Irons was tried and convicted as an adult by an all-white jury for the burglary and shooting at the home of 38-year-old Stanley Stotler. Irons maintained his innocence while he was in prison, saying he was wrongly identified during the lineup.
Moore and Irons formed a close friendship in 2007, before her freshman year at the University of Connecticut, when she met him through a prison ministry she participated in with extended family in Missouri.
After years of fighting, a Missouri judge overturned Irons’ conviction in March 2020, saying there were problems with the way the case had been investigated and tried — including a fingerprint report that would’ve proved Irons’ innocence, not being turned over to his defense team.
Irons told “GMA” in September 2020, when the couple announced their marriage, that he proposed to Moore on the night he was freed.
“When I got out, we were in the hotel room, we had some friends in the room, it was winding down and we were extremely tired, but we were still gassed up on excitement,” Irons recalled. “It was just me and her in the room and I got down on my knees and I looked up at her and she kind of knew what was going on and I said, ‘Will you marry me?’ She said, ‘Yes.'”
The couple’s love story and fight for justice is featured in an ESPN “30 for 30” documentary, “Breakaway,” that was released last year.
ABC News’ Kelly McCarthy and Shannon McClellan contributed to this report.
(HIGHLAND PARK, Ill.) — The 21-year-old suspect in the mass shooting at a Fourth of July parade in suburban Chicago that left seven dead and more than 30 wounded is an aspiring rapper with an apparent trail of violent social media posts that investigators are combing through.
Multiple law enforcement officers detained Robert “Bobby” Crimo III at gunpoint following a car chase hours after Monday’s massacre in the North Shore town of Highland Park.
Investigators are poring over social media posts on numerous platforms, including Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube and Discord, which they believe are associated with Crimo.
Lake County Sheriff’s Office officials said at a news conference Tuesday that the investigation alleges that Crimo planned the attack for several weeks and opened fire on paradegoers from the roof of a business he accessed by an affixed ladder. Police alleged that Crimo fired more than 70 shots during the episode.
He was dressed in women’s clothing, apparently to blend in with the panicked crowd as he made his getaway, said Lake County Sheriff’s Sgt. Christopher Covelli.
Covelli said Crimo legally purchased the high-powered AR-15-style rifle he allegedly used in the attack in Illinois. Covelli said a second rifle, also purchased legally, was found in the car Crimo was driving.
He said Crimo also legally bought three other weapons, including two pistols, that investigators seized from his father’s home.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office has told its law enforcement partners that Crimo is answering investigators’ questions and has made statements taking responsibility for the attack, according to multiple law enforcement sources.
Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart announced Tuesday afternoon that Crimo has been charged with seven counts of first-degree murder. Rinehart said more charges are expected.
Steve Greenberg, an attorney for Crimo’s parents, said the family has retained two lawyers, Tom Durkin and Josh Herman, to represent their son. There was no immediate comment from the defense attorneys and Greenberg said it was unclear if the lawyers have yet met with the suspect.
“We are all mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, and this is a terrible tragedy for many families, the victims, the paradegoers, the community, and our own. Our hearts, thoughts, and prayers go out to everybody,” Crimo’s parents said in a statement Greenberg released Tuesday afternoon.
The lawyer added, “The parents request that all respect their privacy as they try to sort thru this tragedy.”
At a news conference Tuesday afternoon, Covelli detailed two prior contacts Crimo had with law enforcement. He said police checked on Crimo after he attempted suicide in April 2019, but no action was taken.
Covelli said police were called to Crimo’s home in September 2019 by a family member who claimed Crimo allegedly threatened to kill everyone in his house. He said no charges were filed in the incident, but police seized 16 knives, a dagger and a sword from Crimo and reported the incident to the Illinois State Police.
Sgt. Delilah Garcia of the Illinois State Police said no action was taken against Crimo in the September 2019 incident. She said at the time Crimo was not in possession of any firearms and did not have a firearms owner identification card or a pending application for one to revoke.
The suspect lived with his uncle, Paul Crimo, who told ABC News that he has been interviewed by the FBI. Paul Crimo told ABC News that while his nephew lived with him, they rarely had conversations. He said his nephew mostly focused on his music and stayed in his room and on his phone.
He said his nephew never espoused political views or mentioned weapons or firearms. He said his nephew didn’t have a job or many friends.
He said he last spoke to his nephew around 5 p.m. Sunday, but they just said hello while passing each other in the home they shared in the North Shore town of Highwood.
The uncle said his nephew was driving his mother’s car when he was taken into custody. He said his nephew’s car was still parked in front of his home on Tuesday. The car has a number 47 decal on the driver’s side door, matching a tattoo on his face.
A law enforcement source briefed on the case told ABC News Tuesday that investigators have identified posts from several social media platforms alleged to be tied to Crimo that discuss or depict acts of violence — including shooting people.
The Institute for Strategic Dialogue, which monitors and analyzes extremist content online, said in a briefing statement that it appears Crimo had an extensive online presence and that posts allegedly associated with him included mental health issues, hatred and a gravitation toward far-right and neo-fascist thoughts and ideologies.
One online post allegedly made by Crimo about 10 months ago includes a video that appears to be a portion of the Fourth of July parade route in Highland Park that was accompanied by music with a death theme, according to Strategic Dialogue.
Crimo, according to Strategic Dialogue, appears to have created videos that depicted mass shootings, as well as his own death. One video Crimo is believed to have posted portrays the aftermath of a school shooting and another uses animated figures to depict a mass shooting that mimicked the crime, according to Strategic Dialogue.
The posts believed to be from Crimo also include an online symbol for himself resembling a hate symbol associated with neo-Nazis, according to Strategic Dialogue. Similarly, Crimo’s content features the aesthetics of niche neo-fascist subcultures, the group said.
“He was not just crying out for help, he was screaming out for it,” said John Cohen, an ABC News contributor and the former acting undersecretary for intelligence and counterterrorism coordinator at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Covelli said Crimo was identified through surveillance video and by tracing the gun he allegedly left at the scene. Investigators also have not commented on a possible motive for the mass shooting.
Meanwhile, the wife of the rabbi at Chabad House in Highland Park told ABC News that Crimo came to their Passover service this year. She said Crimo left on his own after his presence raised concerns at the synagogue.
The synagogue now has armed security, given the heightened concerns of violence at religious institutions around the country.
Covelli said at Tuesday’s news conference that investigators have not unearthed any evidence suggesting a racial or religious motivation for the rampage.
Crimo was taken into custody more than eight hours after the Highland Park rampage when an all-points bulletin was issued naming him as a person of interest and describing the 2010 silver Honda Fit he borrowed from his mother. A North Chicago police officer spotted the car on U.S. Route 41 and attempted to stop Crimo, who led police on a brief chase before stopping and surrendering, authorities said.
Crimo was apparently raised in Highland Park, where his father, Robert Crimo Jr., owns a delicatessen.
Crimo’s father ran for mayor of Highland Park in 2019, but was handily defeated by incumbent Mayor Nancy Rotering, according to election results.
A Highland Park business owner who grew up with the elder Crimo told ABC News that he was “trying his hardest to help his community” but “probably didn’t have that much of a chance.”
Following Monday’s shooting, Rotering spoke of the tragedy during a news conference.
“On a day that we came together to celebrate community and freedom, we are instead mourning the tragic loss of life and struggling with the terror that was brought upon us,” Rotering said.
Heavily tattooed, including inked patterns on his face, neck and hands, Crimo was an amateur rapper who went by the stage name Awake the Rapper. One music video posted on YouTube appears to depict the aftermath of a school shooting in which Crimo is filmed alone in a classroom dressed in a helmet and bulletproof vest. A separate video shows Crimo sitting on a bed rapping while a newspaper featuring Lee Harvey Oswald hangs on the wall behind him.
Another video allegedly posted by Crimo shows a cartoon depiction of a person aiming a long gun at other characters with their hands up and on the ground, and a character wearing a shirt with a logo used on Crimo’s alleged social media accounts. The video also shows a cartoon character being shot by police.
Law enforcement sources told ABC News that Crimo’s music often referenced death and dying.
Spotify, where Crimo had a little over 16,000 monthly listeners, and Apple have removed Crimo’s accounts and music.
A YouTube spokesperson said in a statement to ABC News, “Following the horrific incident in Highland Park, our Trust and Safety teams identified and quickly removed violative content, in accordance with our Community Guidelines.”
ABC News’ Aaron Katersky and Stephanie Wash contributed to this report.
