THE suspected Highland Park shooter was spotted allegedly to invent Synagogue in Highland Park on the last day of Passover – causing a member to become “immediately suspicious”.
Marty Blumenthal exclusively told The Sun that he was monitoring closely Robert Crimo III “enshroud” the building – and in doing so may have thwarted another fatal incident.
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Blumenthal, treasurer and head of security at the Illinois synagogue, recalled the events that took place months before the deadly shooting july 4 that cost the lives of seven people.
Crimo, 22, walked into the house of worship, which was filled with about 125 people, after a guard outside “watched him.”
“So when he walked in, I immediately saw that he didn’t belong there,” Blumenthal told The Sun.
“He was dressed in his gothic clothes. All black and black leather, black leather gloves. And he had tattoos all over his neck. Some went on his face on his face.
“But I went up to him, I introduced myself to see him and he told me his name was Bobby.
“And I asked him, I probably asked him if you needed a prayer book or something. So someone got him one, but he didn’t know what to do with it.
“So it’s clear he’s not Jewish.”
During the shift, Blumenthal says he sat in his normal chair and kept his eyes on Crimo.
“He had something. Just the way he looked,” Blumenthal said.
“But he behaved, he didn’t cause a nuisance or anything.”
Blumenthal noticed that Crimo was carrying a backpack that he put under his seat.
“I knelt so he couldn’t see me. But I knelt down and patted the object to make sure there were no weapons in it.’
Feeling nothing in the backpack, Blumenthal said, “It was empty, or just nothing suspicious, nothing, metallic in nature or anything like that.”
Others went upstairs and introduced themselves to Crimo, Blumenthal recalls.
But about 40-45 minutes after the service, Crimo got up and started walking down the hall.
“I followed him,” Blumenthal said, adding that Crimo then walked past the guard, got on his bike, and left.
“So that was the magnitude of it.”
PERFORMING?
Knowing what he now knows about Crimo, Blumenthal says he could make an “educated guess” about what the alleged gunman was doing in the synagogue that day.
“I think he was just enveloping the building,” Blumenthal said.
“And, you know, I think he saw that it would be hard for him to walk in with a rifle anyway, because the guard outside would have seen it if I’d seen them on my monitor.
“And that was probably why he was there. And there wouldn’t be any other reason.
“He was not interested in learning about Judaism.
Blumenthal added that the synagogue added the security measures a few years ago amid the rise of anti-Semitic violence†
“There are always copycats,” he said.
‘COPYCAT’ FEAR
“And you know, once it catches on, and some lunatic thinks this guy had a great idea. Maybe he got the idea to be on the roof of the shooter in Las Vegas,” he continued. “So there were all those nuts, you know.
“They think one person had this great idea and someone else is fantasizing about it. And obviously, [that] this guy has it mapped out. That’s usually what they do.
‘It’s not just something. As if he was wearing the women’s clothes as a disguise.’
Blumenthal says he “couldn’t tell” how Crimo identified himself by the way he dressed, noting that while he had “longish hair,” he wasn’t wearing any women’s clothes that day†
‘TRUST WAS RIGHT’
Blumenthal reiterated that while Crimo may have had other intentions in the synagogue that day, he wasn’t interfering with the service either.
“He didn’t do anything. He just sat there and watched,” he continued. “If everyone stood, he would get up. If everyone sat down, he would sit.”
But Blumenthal says his “guess was correct” about Crimo, who now faces… seven counts of first degree murder for the Independence Day massacre.
“He’s not here to pray and I have to keep a close eye on him,” Blumenthal said.
Talking about the Highland Park shootingBlumenthal said it’s “surreal”: “Nobody thinks it’s going to happen in their own backyard. But I’m a believer, a big believer, to always be prepared.
“If you don’t have to use it great, but if you’re not prepared and the situation arises, then it’s a bad day.”
PARADE HORROR
Gunshots rang out just 10 minutes after the start of a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois – about 25 miles north of Chicago.
Beach chairs, prams, backpacks and blankets were found scattered around the parade ground as revelers took cover†
Highland Park police believed the gunman climbed a ladder in an alley to access the roof of a business and then opened fire on parade-goers.
“He was very discreet and hard to see,” said Chris Covelli, the spokesman for the Lake County Major Crimes Task Force.
Authorities have found a “powerful rifle” believed to have been used in the mass shooting†
The suspect’s motive turned out to be randomsaid researchers before naming Crimo as the person of interest.
‘FULLY RANDOM’
“At the moment, in any case, this seems to be completely random,” Covelli said.
The Lake County coroner said five victims, all adults, were pronounced dead at the scene, while a sixth victim died at a local hospital.
On Tuesday afternoon, it was announced that a seventh person had died after the shooting.
Crimo was arrested Monday evening after an hours-long manhunt.
He was arrested when officers were hunting the silver Honda Fit he was driving – hours after a deadly attack by a sniper during the parade.
Footage shared online shows the 22-year-old suspect being held just outside Chicago and handcuffed by police.
He was seen with his face on the ground as the police charged at him.