Highland Park suspect painted a mural of a gunman with a cartoon smiley face on the side of his mom's house, report says

• A painted gunman with a smiley face is on the house of the suspected Highland Park shooter's mom.
• The New York Post reported that the suspected gunman painted it, though it's unclear when.

The suspected gunman in the Fourth of July mass shooting in Highland Park painted a mural of a gunman with a smiley face on the outside of his mom's house, the New York Post reported.

Seven people were killed in the Monday shooting in the Illinois town. A 22-year-old was taken into custody and charged with seven counts of first-degree murder.

At a court hearing Wednesday, prosecutors said that the suspect voluntarily confessed to carrying out the massacre, though he has yet to enter a plea in response to the charges.

In the days since the attack, scrutiny has intensified on any possible signs that the suspect may have been planning an attack, including an incident in 2019 when police confiscated a collection of knives after an apparent threat by the suspect to kill people.

Officials granted him a firearms permit a few months later, and the suspect was able to legally buy guns.

A mural showing a gunman with a cartoon yellow smiley face on his mother's home was photographed by news agencies including Reuters. Insider has chosen not to reproduce the image.

The Post reported that it was painted by the suspect, though it said it was not clear when.

The suspect's father appeared to agree that the suspect painted it. He told the Post in an interview Wednesday that his son was "expressing his art" with the mural and that it "didn't really mean anything."

Chris Covelli, a spokesperson for the Lake County Major Crimes Task Force, said at a news conference on Tuesday that the suspect went to his mother's house as people fled after his attack, CNN reported.

He also took his mother's car, Covelli said.

Police said that he did not tell his mother about the attack, the Post reported.