According to officials, Crimo confessed to the shooting, but they said his motive was unclear. In the absence of information about what led him to carry out the killings, partisan posts online have made various claims about his political affiliation — some alleging that he was a far-right conservative while others asserting that he was a left-wing activist. His actual ideology hasn’t become clear yet.
In some cases, though, the online claims have devolved into transphobic rhetoric.
“There’s alot of talk about the Highland Park shooter,” said one suggestive Facebook post from Peggy Hubbard, who ran unsuccessfully to be the Republican Senate candidate from Illinois. “MSM is desperately trying to call him a Trump supporter and a ‘Proud Boy’ affiliate Here he is! Dressed in women’s clothing, arrested in women’s clothing. See, OUR Conservative men…DON’T WEAR DRESSES! NICE TRY!” Hubbard’s post racked up more than 10,000 engagements.
Other posts explicitly claimed that Crimo is transgender. For example, right-wing provocateur Anthime Joseph Gionet, who goes by the moniker Baked Alaska online and who was arrested for entering the Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack, claimed on Telegram that Crimo was a “tranny.”
And a Facebook page called The Conservative Hammer posted a message that said, “the Highland Park 4th of July parade shooter carried out his attack while dressed in WOMEN’S CLOTHING. The LGBTQ/Trans movement is spawning MENTAL ILLNESS and encouraging it. FACT.”
That...
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