Christina Grimmie

Christina Victoria Grimmie (born March 12, 1994 in Marlton, New Jersey; † June 10, 2016 in Orlando, Florida) was an American singer, actress, pianist, and songwriter. She became known through the video platform YouTube, where she posted videos under the name zeldaxlove64. She mainly covered chart songs by well-known artists such as Demi Lovato, Selena Gomez, Christina Aguilera and Miley Cyrus.

Career

Grimmie became known for a video with singer Sam Tsui in which they covered the song Just a Dream by Nelly. The video had over 190 million views on producer Kurt Hugo Schneider's channel as of early December 2020, as well as over 21 million views on Grimmie's own channel on video platform YouTube. The latter had over 584 million video views and around 3.9 million subscribers as of January 2019. The channel, released on February 9, 2009, received several awards from the YouTube platform. Her manager was Brian Teefey, the stepfather of Selena Gomez.

As of mid-June 2011, her first album Find Me was marketed on iTunes; shortly before, her first single Advice had debuted on Radio Disney. In the second half of 2011, she toured with Selena Gomez. Grimmie competed on the sixth season of the American version of The Voice in 2014, placing third. On February 21, 2016, she released her second EP Side A, featuring four original songs.

Death

After a concert on the evening of June 10, 2016 in Orlando, Florida, Grimmie was attacked during a meet-and-greet with fans by 27-year-old Kevin James Loibl of Saint Petersburg, Florida, who shot her multiple times, including severely injuring her with a gunshot to the head. Her brother Marcus Grimmie wrestled the gunman to the ground immediately after firing the shot, but the latter was able to break free and shot himself. Christina Grimmie was taken to an Orlando hospital, where she was pronounced dead around 11 p.m. local time.

The perpetrator was carrying two firearms, two full magazines and a hunting knife. These had been overlooked during the security check.

The motive for the attack could not be fully clarified. The responsible police authority initially assumed that the perpetrator had been mentally disturbed, but also referred to the still pending evaluation of the shooter's telephone and computer, which could have shed further light. In the final report, the police stated that Loibl was a lone perpetrator with a fixation on Grimmie and spoke of "unrealistic infatuation".