Singer Christina Grimmie was shot to death. Now, her family supports others impacted by gun violence
Christina Grimmie was a 22-year-old rising star, having earned thousands of fans on ‘The Voice’ and YouTube, when a man killed her in 2016 after a concert. Clémence Michallon reports on her death and its aftermath
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Christina Grimmie was just getting started. The singer who rose to fame on YouTube, toured in front of thousands of fans, and was a contestant on The Voice was 22 when she was shot to death by a man after a concert.
Christina had just performed at a venue in Orlando, Florida, on 10 June 2016, and was meeting some audience members when Kevin James Loibl, 27, opened fire. He struck Christina three times, causing fatal injuries. Christina’s brother Marcus Grimmie wrestled the attacker to the ground, a reaction the Orlando police chief said at the time might have helped save the lives of others at the scene. Loibl shot and killed himself shortly after killing Christina.
In the years following Christina’s death, her family started the Christina Grimmie Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting families impacted by gun violence. The work of the foundation, as well as Christina’s story and legacy, were recently highlighted in an episode of Investigation Discovery’s Death by Fame, titled “Behind the Scenes.” It features interviews with Christina’s father, brother, musicians, and other loved ones.
“I want to make people feel a little bit of comfort in this hard time,” Marcus says in the episode about the foundation. “To give them a little bit of help saying, ‘Hey, this is going to be really hard, but you can get through this.’”
Born on 12 March 1994 in Marlton, New Jersey, Christina displayed musical talent from an early age. She was a teenager when she started uploading covers of popular songs on YouTube, from Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” to Justin Bieber’s “Baby” and Owl City’s “Fireflies”. Christina quickly received dozens of positive comments as well as emails—so many that, according to her father Albert Grimmie’s interview in “Behind the Scenes”, she thought her phone was malfunctioning.
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Her career grew quickly. Christina started posting on Youtube in 2009; by 2011, she toured with Selena Gomez & the Scene as their opening act. In 2012, she released the original song “Find Me”, followed by the studio album Find Me the following year. Christina joined the sixth season of The Voice in 2014, earning acclaim from all four judges in her first audition, during which she sang Miley Cyrus’s “Wrecking Ball”.
Christina placed third in the competition, after which she signed a deal with Island Records. She released more songs and in 2016, the EP Side A. That same year, she toured with the pop-rock band Before You Exit. She had just performed with them as part of that tour on the night of her murder.
After the attack, police said they believed Loibl had traveled to Orlando for the purpose of killing Christina. He had two handguns and a hunting knife with him, Orlando Police Chief John Mina told The Associated Press at the time. Orlando Police Detective Michael Moreschi later told the AP that Loibl had developed “an unhealthy and abnormal obsession with” Christina prior to the attack.
A man who referred to himself as Loibl’s “only friend in the world” told investigators Loibl “made it clear he watched everything having to do with [Christina]”, according to a police report published by CNN.
“From talking with Loibl about Christina, [the man] believed he spent most of his waking hours watching Christina on YouTube as well as constantly monitoring her social media accounts,” the report reads in part. “Despite following her on social media, Loibl himself did not have a Facebook, Twitter, or any other social media account.”
The man once “recalled a disturbing conversation with Loibl, who claimed to be an atheist, saying Christina’s belief in Christianity had ‘changed him’ and ‘helped him to see the world in a different way’ and ‘if there is a God he has seen it in her,’” the report states. The man told investigators that Loibl told him he had lost weight, surgery to improve his sight, whitened his teeth, and got hair implants to improve his appearance ahead of meeting Christina.
When the man “tried to point out to Loibl how it was illogical to think he could begin a relationship with Christina Grimmie, Loibl would become angry and defensive” and “would not entertain the idea that his plan would not work,” according to the report.
A private funeral service was held for Christina on 16 June 2016 in her hometown in New Jersey. The next day, a five-hour public memorial was held, during which thousands of loved ones and fans offered their condolences and remembered the singer, the AP reported at the time.
Singer Adam Levine, who had been Christina’s mentor on The Voice, offered to pay for her funeral – a gesture that Christina’s father Albert describes as “amazing” in “Behind the Scenes”. This, combined with a GoFundMe created by Christina’s manager, was the “spark” that showed Albert that there was “still good in the world, when the world just seems so dark.”
Christina’s loss is felt acutely in “Behind the Scenes”. Her friends, fans, relatives, and then-boyfriend all recount her importance in their lives, and the pain that accompanied her sudden, violent death.
“I lost my mom to cancer, and we got to say goodbye, and we got to prepare for it,” Marcus says. “But to all of Christina’s friends and loved ones and fans, there’s no parade. There’s no goodbye.”
Together, the family started the Christina Grimmie Foundation to support families who were also impacted by gun violence but “didn’t have half of the helping hands that we had,” Albert says in “Behind the Scenes”.
The foundation, according to Marcus, has given out more than $350,000 in grants, and assisted more than 100 families. He says in the programme: “This isn’t the end of Christina’s name or legacy.”
Death by Fame is airing now on Investigation Discovery.