The man charged with fatally shooting seven people and wounding nearly 50 others at Highland Park’s 2022 Independence Day parade is weighing a plea deal that would send him to prison for life.
Associated Press Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File
With family members of victims and survivors looking on, the suspect in the mass shooting at Highland Park’s 2022 Independence Day parade backed out of plea agreement Wednesday morning that would have sent him to prison for the rest of his life.
Appearing in court, Robert E. Crimo III initially refused to respond when Lake County Judge Victoria Rossetti asked him if understood and agreed to the proposed deal.
After the Highwood man consulted briefly with his attorney, Rossetti called a recess and the suspect was taken out of court shackled to a wheelchair. He returned about 10 minutes later and was again asked about the proposed plea deal.
“And do you wish to go through with that today?” Rossetti asked.
“No,” he replied.
He’s now scheduled to face trial in February on 21 counts of first-degree murder and dozens of attempted murder charges. A pretrial hearing also is set for August.
Under a deal outlined moments earlier by a prosecutor, the suspect would have admitted guilt to seven counts of first-degree murder and 48 counts of attempted murder — one charge for each person killed or injured in the mass shooting.
Authorities say the 23-year-old perched atop a downtown Highland Park rooftop about 10:15 a.m. July 4, 2022 and fired dozens of shots from a military-style rifle into the crowd gathered for the city’s annual July 4 parade.
Killed were Highland Park residents Katherine Goldstein, 64; Stephen Straus, 88; Jacquelyn “Jacki” Sundheim, 63; and Kevin McCarthy, 37, and his wife Irina McCarthy, 35. Nicolas Toledo-Zaragoza, 78, of Morelos, Mexico, and Eduardo Uvaldo, 69, of Waukegan, also were killed in the attack.
Nearly 50 people, ranging in age from 8 to 88, were wounded.
The suspect was arrested later that day near Lake Forest, after authorities said he first traveled to Wisconsin intending to perform a second mass shooting but changed his mind.
He has had turbulent interactions with the criminal justice system since. Last year, Rossetti suspended his phone privileges after authorities say he violated jail rules by using another inmate’s PIN number to call his mother. This was after his phone privileges were suspended for threatening corrections officers.
In December the defendant told Rossetti he intended to represent himself at trial. But less than a month later, he changed his mind and requested a Lake County public defender.
The hearing Wednesday took place amid heavy security.
“We will have extra sheriff’s deputies on site that day to ensure order is kept both inside and outside of the courtroom,” said Lake County Sheriff’s Deputy Chief Christopher Covelli.
