After a shooting, we often learn that the shooter had exhibited some troubling behavior prior to the incident that arguably should have tipped off authorities, parents, teachers, or anyone with a working brain.
In this case of the alleged Highland Park shooter (we don't list the names of murderous cowards), the list of red flags was several freaking miles long.
Let's review:
1. His inclination toward violence was known to police for three years prior to the shooting:
The 21-year-old charged with opening fire at an Independence Day parade here had so alarmed his family with violent threats in 2019 that they summoned police, who confiscated more than a dozen knives and other sharp weapons from his home, authorities said Tuesday.
Doesn't that look like the type of behavior that should at least end you up on some sort of watchlist or something?
2. He straight-up told cops he was mentally unwell and a drug addict.
Confessed Highland Park shooter [redacted] admitted to cops three years ago that he was a depressed teenage drug user when quizzed about threatening to "kill everyone" in his family, newly released documents show.
The entire world to the Highland Park Police Department right now:
3. The guy painted a completely creepy gun mural on the side of his family's home prior to the shooting:
The accused Highland Park Fourth of July gunman painted a chilling mural of a smiley-face figure brandishing a rifle on the wall of his mom's home ...
Yeah that's...that's very chilling indeed.
4. His online presence for years suggested a fascination with violence.
In the thousands of messages, photos, videos and songs posted online by [redacted], the 21-year-old suspected of opening fire on a Fourth of July parade in suburban Illinois, one conclusion is clear: [he] was unusually interested in violence.
At least two of his music videos depicted some kind of shooting. On Discord, he shared a photo of Budd Dwyer, a politician who killed himself during a live press conference. And he apparently posted thousands of times to an online forum dedicated to sharing violent photos and videos of people dying.
Yeah that's like Red Flag 101 stuff. I mean basic, basic stuff here.
5. He was reportedly "sizing up" a synagogue just a few months before the shooting.
Goth" accused Highland Park shooter [redacted] was "definitely sizing up" a local synagogue when he was confronted there during Passover, its security boss says.
The house of worship's security chief, Martin Blumenthal, told Forward that he was immediately suspicious of the distinctive-looking 21-year-old when the suspect arrived at the city's Chabad synagogue dressed all black "in the goth style," including gloves.
"I profiled him. I knew what he was up to," said Blumenthal, who remembered even squeezing [his] knapsack to make sure there were no weapons inside.
Plotting to kill a bunch of Jews. Are we still at the point where this doesn't raise eyebrows?
6. His father co-signed the firearms ID card that is required under the heavily-regulated gun rules in Illinois.
The FOID card application form was filed by [redacted], along with an affidavit from his father, in December 2019, and the FOID card was granted in 2020, the statement added.
The sponsor agrees he or she "shall be liable for any damages resulting from the minor applicant's use of firearms or firearm ammunition" as part of the application for granting an FOID card to a minor.
Since the criminal was 21 at the time of the July 4 shooting, however, his father is likely not liable anymore under this FOID law.
7. His father had a conversation with him about mass shootings the NIGHT BEFORE the crime.
...the 21-year-old's father said he spoke with his son the night before the shooting about a recent mass shooting in a Copenhagen shopping mall.
"He goes, ‘Yeah, that guy is an idiot,'" the father said, adding that his son declared, "People like that … [commit mass shootings] to amp up the people that want to ban all guns."
Incredibly, with all of this in mind, there are still those who are in denial of what happened here:
Yeah I don't think that's how I'd describe it.
P.S. Now check out our latest video 👇
