Highland Park Mass Shooter Who Opened Fire on July Fourth Parade, Killing 7, Sentenced to Life in Prison

The Illinois man who opened fire at a Chicago-area July Fourth parade in 2022, killing seven people and wounding 48, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. 

Robert Crimo III, 24, pleaded guilty last month in the mass shooting in Highland Park, about 30 miles outside Chicago. Crimo did not show up for his sentencing hearing and declined to make a statement to the court, NBC reported. 

“This court has absolutely no words that could adequately describe and capture the horror and pain that was inflicted on July Fourth,” state circuit judge Victoria Rossetti said in court, according to the outlet. She added that Crimo “is irretrievably depraved, permanently incorrigible, irreparably corrupt and beyond any rehabilitation.”

Liz Turnipseed, who was shot in the pelvis and still struggles with mobility, called Crimo a “coward” to NBC for hiding from the victims. “And regardless of whether he was there or not, this was going to happen. I don’t need to see his face. I know what he looks like. I watched the videos with the confession. That was enough to see how cavalier he was about murdering seven people,” she said.

When prosecutors showed parts of Crimo’s lengthy video-taped confession — which defense attorneys tried to have thrown out — it showed a blank-faced Crimo wearing all black slumped in a chair, arms crossed, CNN reported.

He said he briefly reconsidered because of a problem with the gun, but he fixed it. 

Crimo injured 48 people and killed seven, the outlet reported. The youngest person he wounded was 8-year-old Cooper Roberts, who was paralyzed from the waist down. 

“I walked up the stairs, jumped on the roof and opened fire,” Crimo said in the video, per the outlet. He said he tried to avoid children but it was unavoidable because of the “mesh of people” below. 

Brian Bodden, a Highland Park police officer, said in court that Crimo was calm during questioning, laughing and making jokes, per the outlet. “He was never serious, no remorse,” Bodden testified. He said Crimo started planning the mass shooting in 2017. 

“His intentions were to shoot at people, to kill people,” Bodden said in court, per CNN.

Eric Reinhart, Lake County State Attorney, told the court that 83 shots rang out over 40 seconds, according to NBC. 

“Eighty-three attempts to hurt people, do as much damage as possible. Eighty-three attempts to kill. Eighty-three attempts to reduce light in the world,” Rinehart told the court. “He intended to end the happiness he saw around him. ”

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The courtroom was filled with survivors and family members who cried during the testimony, putting their arms around each other, coming to terms with Crimo’s sentence, per the outlet. 

Crimo will serve seven consecutive life terms for the seven people he killed, in addition to another 50-year sentence, to be served consecutively, for attempted murder. He was also hit with 47 more 50-year-terms for attempted murder, which will be served concurrently, NBC reported. 

“He will not survive his first life sentence,” Rinehart said in court, per the outlet.