On the night of June 10, 2016, Danielle Hendrix was standing outside the Plaza Live theater in Orlando, Florida, after seeing Christina Grimmie and the band Before You Exit perform, when she heard a loud bang inside the venue. “There were guys loading and carrying music equipment out,” she tells Us Weekly, “so I figured it must have been a speaker or some equipment falling.”
Moments earlier, Christina, a YouTube sensation who became a fan favorite while competing on season 6 of The Voice, had been glowing onstage, belting James Bay and Drake covers to a room full of devoted fans. Many stayed afterward for the meet-and-greet, hoping for a hug, a selfie or simply a few seconds with the singer they felt they genuinely knew. Then, security guards started screaming. “‘Run, run, there’s a shooter!’” Hendrix recalls them yelling. “At first I thought, That can’t be right. This is a pop concert.”
After discovering it was Christina who’d been shot, Hendrix, other fans and members of Before You Exit gathered in a nearby parking lot “just processing it all, crying and praying.” Not long after, Hendrix says they found out Christina, 22, had died from her injuries. “I remember breaking down sobbing in my car.”
More details of the horrific scene would soon unfold: The beloved singer had been shot once in the head and three times in the torso by an obsessed 27-year-old fan named Kevin Loibl, who, after being tackled to the ground by Christina’s older brother, Marcus, shot himself in the head and died on the scene.
For millions of fans who had spent years watching Christina sing from her bedroom into a laptop webcam, the loss felt personal. Tributes poured in from fellow artists, friends and fans around the world. “Behati and I are absolutely devastated and heartbroken,” Christina’s former Voice coach, Adam Levine, wrote in a statement on behalf of himself and his wife, Behati Prinsloo. “Christina was a natural, a gifted talent that comes along so rarely. She was taken from us too soon.” Selena Gomez posted a photo with her friend and former backup singer on Instagram alongside the caption: “My heart is absolutely broken.”
Christina’s friend and collaborator Tyler Ward remembers getting a text from Charlie Puth, who was also just breaking out after finding success on YouTube, following her death. “This was before Charlie Puth was Charlie Puth, and he was like, ‘I don’t even know how this stuff happens.’ He couldn’t even wrap his mind around it,” Ward tells Us. “How does that happen when you’re so genuine, so authentic to your fan base? You look them in the eyes, you’re in the weeds with them. And then this happens. [Her death] still doesn’t feel real. I don’t know if I’ll ever process the shock of that.”
This June marks the 10th anniversary of Christina’s death, and while Marcus and her dad, Albert (her mom, Tina, died in 2018 of breast cancer), will never forget the searing pain of losing her, they want to celebrate her life, talent and irrepressible spirit more than anything else. “We want Christina to be remembered for the person and artist she was, not just the tragedy,” says Albert, who founded the Christina Grimmie Foundation in 2016, which aims to help victims of gun violence. Between June 5 and 7, the foundation is hosting its first-ever Grimmie Fest, a three-day event featuring a fan meet-up and a benefit concert in Christina’s honor, headlined by a band Marcus manages, The Living Tombstone. “We’re honoring her legacy and all the people she’s brought together,” Marcus tells Us, “and celebrating the impact she still has.”
Ahead of Her Time
Christina was 15 when she started sharing music on YouTube from her Sonic the Hedgehog-adorned bedroom in New Jersey. Fans were instantly drawn to her immense musical talents — her cover of Miley Cyrus’ “Party in the U.S.A.” went viral in 2009; a 2013 cover of David Guetta and Sia’s “Titanium” racked up 33 million views — as well as her fun, down-to-earth personality. She was refreshingly open about her faith and love of video games, especially Zelda (her YouTube handle was zeldaxlove64), and followers adored her unique, edgy fashion choices and her signature poof hairstyle (3.6 million people tuned in for a hair tutorial in 2011). In the time of the “wild, wild web, as we call it, she was very unique for that time,” notes Marcus. “She catered to the nerd gamer thing when it wasn’t as popular. She was very Christian but accepting of all this new-age stuff coming up … part of why she got [to where she did] was her personality. She touched people.”
“It was surreal,” Christina’s best friend since fourth grade, Lauren Longo, tells Us of her instant popularity. She recalls being amazed by her perfect pitch and natural musicianship. “I would 100 percent use the word prodigy. As a child, I could tell she was abnormally talented.” Ward says she was “an originator of an influencer. I had fans, but with her, it was like magic,” Ward adds, likening Christina to Taylor Swift. “Taylor does a really great job of having that human, ‘I’m eye-to-eye with you, I’m not above you’ [vibe]. Christina wanted to interact with her fan base; part of her purpose was that connection piece.”
As her popularity grew, she remained grounded. “My roommates loved video games, so she’d invite them over to hang out with her mom, and they’d make cookies, ” Ward says. “She cared about success, but it didn’t affect her.” Longo says the rising star never forgot where she came from. “It was so far from Christina to ever say, like, ‘Oh, you’re my little New Jersey friend.’ Her hometown friends weren’t second-class citizens.”
Longo also says Christina always had her priorities straight. “She had the words ‘All Is Vanity’ tattooed on her forearm, which is from her favorite book of the Bible. It was a reminder that fame and money and proximity to stars is all vanity. She was averse to anything that could be perceived as vain or bragging or self-centered.” Marcus says his little sister was “super goofy” and “great at impressions,” adding, “I don’t want people to forget how funny she was. Everyone loved her, and it was because she was a genuine, kind soul. There was no ego with her.”
Christina had a special relationship with her fans. Marcus recalls how one of them — who’s since become a close friend of the Grimmie family — gave him and his dad a big stack of emails and social media messages they’d printed from supporters around the world. “[They talk about] how Christina changed their lives,” says Marcus. (A couple who met at one of Albert and Marcus’ events got married and played Christina’s songs at their wedding.) “She was constantly bringing people together.” Her fans started a yearly fundraiser tied to Christina’s birthday. “We’ve raised over $50,000 in the last four years,” says Marcus. “I’m grateful she has such a great community, which doesn’t hang on to the tragedy,” Marcus adds. “They are celebrating her life and her impact, and it’s contagious.”
Ward says he can’t imagine where Christina would be these days because her fans were so loyal. “I didn’t realize how much of an impact you could have, basically, direct to consumer,” he says of her online success. Her fans cheered her on as she went from YouTube star to opening up for Gomez’s 2011 and 2013 tours to impressing the nation during her run on The Voice. “I remember seeing her in a dress for the first time on [the show],” Ward recalls, noting the incredible growth from her original grainy videos. “I was like, Wait! There was such a transition there, but you can see it in real time. It was almost like you were part of it, as if you grew up with her. Authenticity has almost become an overused word, but she captured it without even trying, which was a really special superpower.”
Tragic Turn
The same unprecedented closeness that helped Christina build one of the internet’s earliest fiercely loyal fan communities also exposed the darker side of parasocial obsession. Loibl was infatuated with her. Arthur Barnes, who worked with him at Best Buy when Christina was killed, says his coworkers were aware of the gunman’s fixation and that he would have Christina’s YouTube videos playing while working on customers’ computers. They also noted his recent physical transformation. Another employee, Cory Dennington, told police his coworker wanted to be more attractive for Christina, and that he had an “unrealistic” obsession with her that wasn’t “normal or healthy.” Dennington also revealed that the gunman came from an abusive household and had hinted at suicide the last time they spoke. “He got hair plugs and his teeth whitened, but nobody knew why until they put it together,” says Barnes.
In May and early June, Loibl bought two handguns, then traveled more than 100 miles from St. Petersburg, Florida, for her show at Plaza Live. Christina had opened her arms for a hug with him when he pulled his gun out. Hendrix blames security for letting him in. “Security was incredibly lacking,” she says. “What do you mean I was forced to toss a granola bar at the door while this guy somehow entered the venue with weapons and ammo?”
Marcus was hailed as a hero for tackling the gunman as people fled, but he says he has mixed feelings about that label. “I never agreed with it. I understand objectively what’s being said, but for me it’s like, ‘Well, I didn’t save her,’ so it’s hard to feel that way.” (“Nobody knows what would have transpired if Marcus hadn’t done what he did,” says Albert.) He says the real heroic work came after, via the community that’s been built through the Christina Grimmie Foundation. Seeing people unite for a common cause has helped him heal. “It was just me and two dead bodies in an empty room until the police came. I just felt so alone. To see people come together … I don’t feel so alone.”
Giving Back
Christina’s loved ones decided to develop the Christina Grimmie Foundation amid a flood of support from friends and fans, including Levine, who covered the cost of her funeral. Marcus felt inspired to help victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting (on June 12, two days after Christina’s murder, a 29-year-old gunman opened fire at the LGBTQ+ spot and killed 49 people and injured 58 others; in the aftermath, scammers created fraudulent fundraisers). “After Marcus read about the victims’ not receiving money, we stepped right into it,” says Albert. Adds Marcus: “The amount of love and compassion [we received] was really integral to our healing. We can help people so long as gun violence is an issue, and as long as we’re breathing, that’s what we want to be doing.”
There’s still grief. “The grief itself is like this black marble in a jar, and the grief is going to be the same, but the jar is going to expand,” says Albert. “So my capacity to carry that grief has grown.” He says he misses Christina’s “excitement for life” and sense of humor. “I used to be able to make her laugh, even when she was mad or grumpy. I used to call her ‘Grumpina,’ and then she [would be] like, ‘Dad, I want to be grumpy right now.’ She was funny.” Marcus says there’s not a day that goes by that he doesn’t think of his little sister. “She always made people feel heard, and that’s something I try to do.”
What was once a day of mourning has become an opportunity to honor Christina. (A bill to make June 10 Christina Grimmie Day in New Jersey will be voted on by local senators.) “Instead of dreading the 10th, we’re adding this additional layer of hope,” says Marcus. “It’s exciting to celebrate the person she was.” Longo says it’s an opportunity to introduce Christina to new fans. “It’s opening doors for other people to be interested in her story, and that’s so wonderful.” Says Albert: “We want people to know this is more than just a tragedy. Christina was a pioneer of YouTube. She reached the world from her bedroom, where people wanted to be like her, and they cut their hair like her and tried to sing and play the keyboard like her. That’s an amazing thing for a father to watch happen.” Her legacy, adds Longo, “is her talent and the way she treated people.”
Ten years after hearing the gunshots that took Christina’s life, Hendrix wants the singer to be remembered for her voice and her radiance (she has the word “radiate” tattooed on her arm in Christina’s honor). “It might be kind of cringey to admit, but honestly, to this day, I still think of her whenever I see rays of sun filtering through clouds. She had a heart of gold,” says Hendrix. “And she’ll never be forgotten on our watch.”
