Illinois man accused of Highland Park shooting to face trial 3 years after attack

• Robert Crimo III is acceptable to look proceedings connected Monday for a wide shooting astatine a 2022 Independence Day parade successful Highland Park, Illinois.
• Crimo faces 21 counts of first-degree murder, 3 counts for each idiosyncratic killed, arsenic good arsenic 48 counts of attempted murder.
• Police accidental Crimo confessed to the shooting during a videotaped interrogation, but the 24-year-old has since pleaded not guilty.

The proceedings of a suburban Chicago man accused of a wide shooting astatine a 2022 Independence Day parade that killed 7 radical and wounded dozens much is acceptable to statesman Monday.

Robert Crimo III faces 21 counts of first-degree murder, 3 counts for each idiosyncratic killed, arsenic good arsenic 48 counts of attempted murder. Prosecutors dropped the little superior 48 counts of aggravated artillery earlier assemblage enactment past week.

The roadworthy to the proceedings has been bumpy, with delays partially owed to Crimo’s unpredictability, including his rejection of a plea deal that adjacent amazed his attorneys. As imaginable jurors were questioned past week, helium sporadically appeared successful court, astatine times refusing to permission his jailhouse cell.

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Authorities alleged Crimo perched connected a extortion and fired into crowds assembled for the yearly Fourth of July parade successful downtown Highland Park, 30 miles northbound of Chicago.

Prosecutors person submitted thousands of pages of evidence, arsenic good arsenic hours of a videotaped interrogation during which constabulary accidental Crimo confessed to the shooting. But the 24-year-old has since pleaded not guilty.

His defence attorneys person declined remark up of the trial, which is expected to past astir a month.

Robert E. Crimo III watches the assemblage enactment process during the archetypal time of his proceedings astatine the Lake County Courthouse, Waukegan, Illinois, connected Feb. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, Pool, File)

His father, Robert Crimo Jr., a onetime mayoral candidate, was charged successful transportation with however his lad obtained a weapon license. He pleaded blameworthy successful 2023 to 7 misdemeanor counts of reckless behaviour and served little than 2 months successful jail.

He has attended his son’s hearings, sometimes making oculus interaction with him during court. He declined to sermon the lawsuit successful item up of the trial.

"As a parent, I emotion my lad precise much," helium said. "And Bobby loves this state much than anyone would ever know."

Prosecutors program to telephone aggregate instrumentality enforcement officers and survivors of the shooting to testify. They volition besides amusement videos of Crimo’s statements to police. Some of the videos person already been shown successful tribunal arsenic prosecutors tried unsuccessfully to person them thrown out.

Crimo’s erratic behaviour has contributed to tribunal delays.

He fired his nationalist defenders and said helium would correspond himself, past abruptly reversed himself. In June 2024, erstwhile helium was expected to judge a plea woody and springiness victims and relatives a accidental to code him publicly, helium arrived astatine the tribunal successful a wheelchair and rejected the deal.

Residents successful the affluent Highland Park assemblage of astir 30,000 acceptable on Lake Michigan person mourned the losses deeply. Some imaginable jurors were excused due to the fact that of their connections to the case.

City leaders canceled the accustomed parade successful 2023, opting for a "community walk." The parade was reinstated past twelvemonth connected a antithetic way and with a memorial for the victims.

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"Our assemblage is erstwhile again reminded of the immense symptom and trauma caused by the Highland Park shooting," Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering said successful a connection up of assemblage selection. "Our hearts stay with the victims, their families, and each those whose lives were everlastingly changed by that devastating day."

The victims killed successful the shooting included Katherine Goldstein, 64; Jacquelyn Sundheim, 63; Stephen Straus, 88; Nicolas Toledo-Zaragoza, 78; Eduardo Uvaldo, 69; and joined mates Kevin McCarthy, 37, and Irina McCarthy, 35.

Survivors and their families person filed aggregate lawsuits, including against the shaper of the semiautomatic firearm utilized successful the shooting and against authorities they impeach of negligence.