Robert Crimo III, the gunman who killed seven people and wounded dozens more at a Fourth of July parade in Illinois, has been ordered to serve to seven consecutive life sentences for carrying out the 2022 mass shooting.
“This court has absolutely no words that could adequately describe and capture the horror and pain that was inflicted on July 4th,” Lake County Judge Victoria Rossetti said, Thursday, adding that Crimo “has a complete disregard for human life.”
He is “is irretrievably depraved, permanently incorrigible, irreparably corrupt and beyond any rehabilitation,” Rosetti said.
Crimo III pleaded guilty last month to 21 first-degree murder counts (three per each victim killed), 48 counts of attempted murder and 48 counts of aggravated battery in connection with the massacre in Highland Park nearly three years ago. His plea, entered just before the start of his trial, came as both a shock and relief to those touched by the massacre.
Many of them were present for the sentencing hearing on Wednesday, though Crimo III himself was not at the Lake County Courthouse, roughly 45 miles outside Chicago.
“It went from watching a parade to utter chaos,” Dana Ruder Ring, who attended the parade with her husband and three kids, told the court. “We just had to keep going. We just knew that staying still was not a safe idea and we were terrified.”
Several survivors have also filed lawsuits against Crimo and gunmaker Smith & Wesson.
On July 4, 2022, Crimo III perched himself on a rooftop overlooking the Independence Day festivities in Highland Park and then used a high-powered rifle to open fire on revelers below. He initially managed to escape amid the ensuing mayhem by dressing like a woman and covering up face tattoos, but he was ultimately arrested by authorities the following day.
Those killed in the attack 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. An 8-year-old boy, Cooper Roberts, was also left paralyzed after getting shot in the spine.
Just 19 years old at the time, Crimo was too young to legally obtain a Firearm Owner’s Identification card in Illinois on his own, so his father, Robert Crimo Jr., signed the application for him. Authorities said he did so despite his son’s history of violence and mental health struggles, which included a suicide attempt, and he was subsequently charged.
In November, the elder Crimo pleaded guilty to seven misdemeanor counts of reckless conduct as part of a plea deal that landed him a sentence of 60 days in jail and 2 years probation.
With News Wire Services
