Friend: Shooter Had Fixation On ‘The Voice’ Singer

Kevin Loibl, the man Orlando Police detectives say fatally shot Grimmie as she was signing autographs after a concert, spent most of his time watching Grimmie on YouTube and that he constantly monitored her social media accounts, his friend, Cory Dennington, told detectives. Grimmie was shot June 10 and died the next morning.

Dennington worked with Loibl at a Best Buy store in the St. Petersburg, Florida, area and described himself as Loibl’s only friend.

Loibl “made it clear he watched everything having to do with her,” Dennington told detectives.

Dennington became concerned enough with Loibl’s obsession with Grimmie that he told their boss at Best Buy about it, according to the police report.

The boss, Luke Dahl, told detectives he never spoke to Loibl directly about the infatuation but said he had seen Loibl watching Grimmie’s YouTube videos at work.

Dahl described Loibl as “socially awkward, detached.” He also said Loibl lacked social skills and worked in the back of the store on computers so he didn’t interact with customers with his part-time job as a member of the “Geek Squad” technical team.

When Dennington tried to point out to Loibl how unlikely it was that he could begin a relationship with Grimmie, Loibl “would become angry and defensive,” the report said.

“Loibl would not entertain the idea that his plan would not work and when Dennington did, he threatened to end their friendship,” the police report said. Loibl described Grimmie as “his soul mate,” according to the report, but he never explained to Dennington how he would carry out his plan to be with her.

Dennington spoke to Loibl last about five days before the shooting, and Loibl told him that he was “tired and ready to ascend.” Dennington told detectives he don’t know what that meant.

A day before the shooting, Loibl paid $200 for a cab ride from St. Petersburg to Orlando, where he checked into a hotel. The next night, he took a cab to The Plaza Live theater where about 300 others were at the concert. A videographer captured Loibl, dressed in a baseball cap and a red, white and blue shirt, standing against a back wall in the concert venue.

After the concert, Grimmie signed autographs for dozens of fans who stood in line after the concert. Loibl also stood in line until he approached her and fired the shots, according to the police report.

Grimmie’s brother, Marcus, was seated at a merchandise table nearby and grabbed Loibl. But Loibl broke free, put the gun to his head and killed himself.

An autopsy showed Grimmie was shot once in the side of her head and three times the torso. Loibl died from a gunshot wound to the head, according to the autopsy.

Loibl, 27, didn’t have any previous criminal history and would have been able to purchase firearms legally, detectives said. He lived at home with his father and brother, and they told detectives they were unaware of his obsession.

His father, Paul Loibl, told detectives that his son lived like a hermit, hardly leaving his room except to go to his job. His father was unaware Loibl owned firearms, and detectives said it appeared Loibl had destroyed the hard drive on his home computer and also encrypted his phone, making it difficult to extra any data.

Thousands of friends and fans said farewell to Grimmie last week in Medford, New Jersey, where her family lived before moving to southern California in 2012.

The police report said that the case is now closed since Loibl killed himself, but detectives believe they would have had enough evidence to charge him with first-degree murder if he had lived.