‘Complete disregard for human life’: Robert Crimo III gets life sentences for deadly Highland Park parade shooting

WAUKEGAN, Ill. (WGN) — The man who admitted to fatally shooting seven people and wounding dozens of others during a 2022 Fourth of July parade in Highland Park has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Robert Crimo III, 24, changed his plea to guilty last month just moments before opening statements at his trial.

On Thursday, Lake County Judge Victoria Rossetti handed down seven consecutive sentences of life in prison to Crimo. She also sentenced him to 50 years on each of the 48 counts of attempted murder to be served consecutively to the seven life sentences.

“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.

Robert E. Crimo III, 24, “has a complete disregard for human life” and “is irretrievably depraved, permanently incorrigible, irreparably corrupt and beyond any rehabilitation,” she said.

While delivering the sentence, the judge paused the hearing briefly after being tapped on the shoulder with word that Crimo wanted to return to the courtroom.

According to prosecutors, Crimo was upset about an issue with his personal property at the jail and his complaints to the sheriff’s deputies were unrelated to the sentencing.

Crimo was asked at the jail if he wanted to give a written statement, but he maintained his silence. He also didn’t provide anything for his lawyers to say on his behalf Thursday.

After an hour long break and no show from Crimo, the judge continued with her sentencing. Court was officially adjourned around 11 a.m.

This hearing wraps up after two days of testimony from survivors and relatives who say the event forever changed their lives.

Eighteen people spoke and read statements addressed to Crimo on Wednesday, recounting how they fled the route, hid inside businesses or treated the wounded packed into an emergency room.

Erica Weeder was one of them.

Our son and daughter drove to the hospital in terror and in tears, not knowing if they’d find us alive. For me, the worst impact is the impact on my kids. They still suffer as young adults knowing that their parents could have been wiped out.
Erica Weeder, Highland Park shooting victim

Crimo also refused to attend his sentencing hearing on Wednesday despite a judge’s previous warnings that the case would proceed without him. 

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.

Crimo’s father, Robert Crimo Jr., a former 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. He served less than two months in jail.