April 25, 2025:
WAUKEGAN, Ill. (AP) — The suburban Chicago man who admitted to fatally shooting seven people and wounding dozens of others during a 2022 Independence Day parade was sentenced Thursday (April 25, 2025) to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Lake County Judge Victoria Rossetti handed down seven sentences of life in prison for 24-year-old Robert Crimo III, as prosecutors requested, for the first-degree murder charges after hearing emotional testimony from survivors and the relatives of those killed in the shooting. She also sentenced Crimo, who did not attend the two-day hearing, to 50 years for 48 counts of attempted murder.
“This court has absolutely no words that could adequately describe and capture the horror and pain that was inflicted on July 4th,” the judge said. She added that Crimo, who did not attend the sentencing, “is irretrievably depraved, permanently incorrigible, irreparably corrupt and beyond any rehabilitation.”
The proceedings have been marked by unpredictable behavior, including Thursday when Rossetti briefly paused the hearing because Crimo changed his mind and was being escorted to the hearing. However, his defense attorneys later said it was for an unrelated issue and he went back to his Lake County jail cell.
Crimo also declined to offer a statement to the court through his attorneys. The judge ordered consecutive sentences, and Crimo “will die in prison,” his public defender, Gregory Ticsay, said.
“He’s always known that he was facing life in prison,” Ticsay said. “He has spared this community the lengthy trial.”
Dozens were wounded in the shooting in the suburb north of Chicago. They ranged in age from their 80s to an 8-year-old boy who was left paralyzed from the waist down.
Crimo pleaded guilty last month just before jurors were due to report for opening statements. He previously backed out of a plea deal, fired his public defenders and reversed his decision to represent himself. He signed his name and Donald Trump’s when he waived his right to trial. Crimo has also skipped several hearings, despite warnings from Rossetti that the case would proceed without him.
Some survivors called Crimo “cowardly” for not attending the hearing, while others said seeing him provoked anxiety. One cited their faith in forgiving him.
Liz Turnipseed, who was seriously injured and now relies on a cane, dismissed Crimo skipping court as part of his latest “antics.” She said the sentencing was an important end to the case.
“I don’t need to see his face. I know what he looks like,” she told reporters Thursday.
While not unprecedented, it’s unusual for defendants to skip trial, especially sentencing, but constitutionally they have the right not to attend, said David Erickson, a former state appellate judge who teaches at Chicago-Kent College of Law. Often in violent cases, defendants will explain themselves or profess innocence before sentencing.
“Certainly in crimes of violence it’s not unusual for a defendant to show some remorse,” Erickson said.
However, prosecutors and Rossetti said that Crimo did not show any regret.
Prosecutors argued Crimo was fully in control of his actions as he fired 83 shots over 40 seconds from the roof of a building overlooking the downtown Highland Park parade route.
“This was his evil plan. He intended to end the happiness that he saw around him,” said Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart, who called him “merciless.
Prosecutors presented evidence during the hearing that they’d prepared for trial, including clips of Crimo’s video-taped confession.
In the interview, which defense attorneys tried to have thrown out, a blank-faced Crimo slumped in a chair with arms crossed. He told officers that he briefly reconsidered the attack as he fixed a problem with a gun, but then moved forward.
“I walked up the stairs, jumped on the roof and opened fire,” he said.
The seven people killed were Katherine Goldstein, 64; Jacquelyn Sundheim, 63; Stephen Straus, 88; Nicolas Toledo-Zaragoza, 78; Eduardo Uvaldo, 69; and married couple Kevin McCarthy, 37, and Irina McCarthy, 35.
April 22, 2025:
WAUKEGAN, Ill. (AP) — Survivors and relatives of people killed in a 2022 mass shooting at an Independence Day parade in suburban Chicago are set to address the gunman (April 23, 2025) at his sentencing hearing. Robert E. Crimo III pleaded guilty last month to the shooting that left seven people dead and dozens more injured. The 24-year-old changed his plea just moments before opening statements at his trial. The change came as a shock even during years of unpredictable legal proceedings. Crimo is certain to spend the rest of his life in jail. Each count of first-degree murder carries a maximum natural life prison sentence. Prosecutors and attorneys for survivors say addressing Crimo is an important step.
March 3, 2025, update:
WAUKEGAN, Ill (AP) — An Illinois man pleaded guilty Monday (March 3, 2025) to killing seven people and injuring dozens more when he opened fire on a 2022 Independence Day parade in a Chicago suburb, a stunning development moments before opening statements in his trial on murder and attempted murder charges. Appearing in a Lake County circuit courtroom, Robert E. Crimo III, withdrew his earlier not-guilty plea in the Highland Park shooting. The judge said with the plea change, there would be no trial or further motions on the case. Sentencing will come April 23, but Crimo is certain to spend life behind bars. He was charged with 21 counts of first-degree murder, and the maximum sentence for each count is natural life in prison.
March 3, 2025:
WAUKEGAN, Ill (AP) — The trial of a suburban Chicago man accused of a mass shooting at a 2022 Independence Day parade that killed seven people and wounded dozens more is set to begin Monday (March 3, 2025).
Robert Crimo III faces 21 counts of first-degree murder, three counts for each person killed, as well as 48 counts of attempted murder. Prosecutors dropped the less serious 48 counts of aggravated battery before jury selection last week.
The road to the trial has been bumpy, with delays partly due to Crimo’s unpredictability, including his rejection of a plea deal that even surprised his attorneys. As potential jurors were questioned last week, he sporadically appeared in court, at times refusing to leave his jail cell.
Authorities alleged Crimo perched on a roof and fired into crowds assembled for the annual Fourth of July parade in downtown Highland Park, 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of Chicago.
Prosecutors have submitted thousands of pages of evidence, as well as hours of a videotaped interrogation during which police say Crimo confessed to the shooting. But the 24-year-old has since pleaded not guilty.
His defense attorneys have declined comment ahead of the trial, which is expected to last about a month.
His father, Robert Crimo Jr., a onetime mayoral candidate, was charged in connection with how his son obtained a gun license. He pleaded guilty in 2023 to seven misdemeanor counts of reckless conduct and served less than two months in jail.
He has attended his son’s hearings, sometimes making eye contact with him during court. He declined to discuss the case in detail ahead of the trial.
“As a parent, I love my son very much,” he said. “And Bobby loves this country more than anyone would ever know.”
Prosecutors plan to call multiple law enforcement officers and survivors of the shooting to testify. They also will show videos of Crimo’s statements to police. Some of the videos already have been shown in court as prosecutors tried unsuccessfully to have them thrown out.
Crimo’s erratic behavior has contributed to court delays.
He fired his public defenders and said he would represent himself, then abruptly reversed himself. In June 2024, when he was expected to accept a plea deal and give victims and relatives a chance to address him publicly, he arrived at the court in a wheelchair and rejected the deal.
Residents in the wealthy Highland Park community of roughly 30,000 set along Lake Michigan have mourned the losses deeply. Some potential jurors were excused because of their connections to the case.
City leaders canceled the usual parade in 2023, opting for a “community walk.” The parade was reinstated last year on a different route and with a memorial for the victims.
“Our community is once again reminded of the immense pain and trauma caused by the Highland Park shooting,” Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering said in a statement ahead of jury selection. “Our hearts remain with the victims, their families, and all those whose lives were forever changed by that devastating day.”
The victims killed in the shooting included Katherine Goldstein, 64; Jacquelyn Sundheim, 63; Stephen Straus, 88; Nicolas Toledo-Zaragoza, 78; Eduardo Uvaldo, 69; and married couple Kevin McCarthy, 37, and Irina McCarthy, 35.
Survivors and their families have filed multiple lawsuits, including against the maker of the semiautomatic rifle used in the shooting and against authorities they accuse of negligence.
AUGUST 3, 2022:
WAUKEGAN, Ill. (AP) — The 21-year-old man accused of killing seven people and wounding dozens more in a shooting at an Independence Day parade in suburban Chicago has pleaded not guilty, a week after prosecutors announced he faces 117 felony counts in the attack. Robert E. Crimo III appeared for a brief hearing Wednesday (Aug. 3, 2022) in Lake County’s circuit court to enter a formal plea. Prosecutors announced in late July that a grand jury had indicted Crimo on 21 counts of first-degree murder, 48 counts of attempted murder and 48 counts of aggravated battery in the attack on the parade in Highland Park.
JULY 6, 2022 UPDATE:
HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. (AP) — The man charged with killing seven people at an Independence Day parade confessed to police that he unleashed a hail of bullets from a rooftop in suburban Chicago and then fled to the Madison, Wisconsin, area, where he contemplated shooting up an event there. That’s according to authorities who spoke Wednesday (July 6, 2022). Robert Crimo III turned back to Illinois, where he was later arrested after deciding he was not prepared to pull off a shooting in Wisconsin. An Illinois judge ordered Crimo to be held without bail. A prosecutor said police found the shells of 83 bullets and three ammunition magazines on the rooftop that he fired from.
JULY 6, 2022:
HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. (AP) — The man accused of opening fire at an Independence Day parade in suburban Chicago legally bought five weapons, including two high-powered rifles. Authorities said Tuesday (July 5, 2022) that the purchases were allowed even though police were called to his home twice in 2019 for threats of violence and suicide. The suspect was charged with seven counts of murder. Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart promised that dozens more charges would be sought and that the man could receive a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole. The assailant sprayed more than 70 rounds from a rooftop into a crowd in Highland Park, an affluent community of about 30,000 on the Lake Michigan shore.
JULY 5, 2022:
HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. (AP) — A shooter fired on an Independence Day parade from a rooftop in suburban Chicago, spraying the crowd with gunshots initially mistaken for fireworks. Hundreds of panicked revelers of all ages then fled in terror. At least six people were killed and at least 30 wounded. An hourslong manhunt ensued during which residents hunkered down in businesses or received police escorts to their homes. That ended with a traffic stop and brief chase Monday evening (July 4, 2022), when authorities detained a man they described as a person of interest. They identified no motive for the attack in Highland Park. That’s an affluent community of about 30,000 on Chicago’s north shore.
Comments