Robert Crimo III sentenced to life for Highland Park Parade shooting, transferred to Stateville Prison

WAUKEGAN, Ill. - Robert Crimo III, who pleaded guilty in the 2022 Highland Park Independence Day parade shooting, was sentenced to seven life sentences Thursday.

Crimo was transferred to Stateville Correctional Center in Crest Hill on Friday morning, where he will spend the rest of his life, according to the Lake County Sheriff. 

"Due to the hard work of the Circuit Clerk’s Office quickly processing all of the post-conviction paperwork, our Corrections Team was able to transfer the defendant to an Illinois Prison this morning. Our correctional officers did a terrific job getting the defendant transferred quickly, to the place he will spend the rest of his life," the sheriff said. 

Robert Crimo III sentence

The natural life sentences, one for each of the seven victims, will run consecutively without the possibility of parole. Lake County Judge Victoria Rossetti also sentenced Crimo to 50 years in prison for each of the 48 counts of attempted first-degree murder. 

Those sentences are concurrent to each other, but that term of 50 years is consecutive to the seven life sentences.

It was the maximum punishment Crimo could have received and represented a long-awaited turning point in the community’s journey forward.

Crimo shot and killed seven people and wounded dozens more who were attending a Fourth of July parade in downtown Highland Park in 2022. Judge Rossetti handed down his sentence after emotional testimony from survivors and the relatives of those killed in the shooting.

"This court has absolutely no words that could adequately describe and capture the horror and pain that was inflicted on July 4th," Rossetti said.  

Crimo, 24, "has a complete disregard for human life" and "is irretrievably depraved, permanently incorrigible, irreparably corrupt and beyond any rehabilitation," she added.

Crimo was not present in the courtroom to learn his fate firsthand, once again refusing to face the people he hurt the most—a stunt he’s pulled before.

Rossetti briefly paused the sentencing hearing on Thursday morning when she received word that Crimo had sent a note to officials in the Lake County Jail. However, his defense attorneys determined it was for an unrelated issue in the jail and Crimo did not have a statement for the court. 

Now concluded nearly three years after the attack, the case has been a tumultuous one.

Crimo initially pleaded ‘not guilty’ despite admitting to the massacre in a recorded interview with detectives on the evening of July 4, 2022. 

At one point, he wanted to represent himself at trial, then opted for legal counsel. After a jury was seated earlier this year, the gunman stunned the court again by changing his plea to ‘guilty’ on all counts.

What they're saying:

Crimo’s sentence was imposed the second day of the hearing, with those directly impacted by the attack breathing a collective sigh of relief.

"Each story is so unique, the pain is so immense," said Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering. "This will never heal the pain people have experienced, but it lets them now continue forward on their journey."

After the attack, an incredible amount of work was done behind the scenes.

"The forensics, the interviews, every piece of it—to make sure that the outcome we saw today was the only outcome that could have happened," said Highland Park Police Chief Lou Jogmen.

This week, some of that evidence was presented by Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart before the powerful stories of those impacted were shared in the courtroom.

"That bravery, that professionalism, and that courage stands in stark contrast not only, not only to the cowardly and heinous acts of this offender, but also the fact that for all of his weeks and months of planning, he has never shown one bit of remorse," Rinehart said.

One by one, through victim impact statements, community members described the mental and physical hardships they face every day. On Thursday, however, a new page in their stories is being written.

"While I don't have closure, it's closing a chapter on this part of our lives," said Liz Turnipseed, a shooting survivor.

Turnipseed was shot in the pelvis, suffering extensive injuries; still, her outlook is bright.

"It’s amazing how you go through something traumatic like this and how it builds these relationships and these friendships with people you might not otherwise get to know or cross paths with," Turnipseed said. "While it’s traumatic and while we’re all in a club that none of us ever wanted to be in, you do get that comfort."

Through the tragedy, we’ve seen their selfless acts.

"They were trying to survive, they were trying to protect their families, and it just does speak to the resiliency and closeness of this community," said Jogmen.

Highland Park Police Chief Lou Jogmen and Fire Chief Joe Schrage say the people of Highland Park have left a lasting imprint of resilience.

"The heroes that showed up that day went well beyond the first responders. It went to the community as well," said Schrage. "We're inspired, is the word I would use, inspired by the strength of this community, the ability for people to recover, and we look forward to continuing to serve the community and help them in that journey."

Late Thursday afternoon, Dr. Keely Roberts, the mother of a paralyzed shooting victim, Cooper Roberts, issued a statement on Crimo's sentence: 

"You and I have just one thing in common. You and I are both going to be serving life sentences without parole. You will serve your sentence for the intentional, evil, cowardly and violent acts you committed that day against entirely innocent people. And I will serve mine living every day with the horror and trauma and permanent, life-changing injuries you wrought upon my 8-year-old twin sons – you robbed them of their health and childhood. … and for not being able to protect them from you," Roberts said. 

First day of sentencing

Victim Impact Statements::

On Wednesday, witnesses, survivors, and loved ones of the victims shared powerful stories of what they remembered from that fateful day. Some of the details they discussed had never been shared publicly before.

They spoke about how they escaped the gunfire, why they stopped to help others, and sadly, how some of them lost the people closest to them.

Children and spouses of the victims—including Jacki Sundheim, Eduardo Uvaldo, and Katherine Goldstein—shared how a joyous day turned to darkness.

Some expressed that no matter the sentence, "justice cannot be served."

Crimo refused to appear in court—a stunt he has pulled in the past—but the hearing proceeded without him.

"He knew what he was going to hear, he knew how many lives he had changed, and he didn’t want to face it," said Antonio Romanucci, founding partner of Romanucci & Blandin.

Romanucci is representing several victims in a civil lawsuit filed against Smith & Wesson, the manufacturer of the firearm used in the attack.

More than a dozen victim impact statements were shared on Wednesday, but first, prosecutors presented evidence to the court.

Testimony was heard from several police officers, an FBI agent, a doctor, and the woman who brought Kevin and Irina McCarthy's son, Aiden, home while police worked to identify his parents.

Dana Ruder Ring was hit with shrapnel before she and her husband took Aiden McCarthy to safety.

"As the chaos was unfolding, they came across a woman, a woman whose name we still don’t know, who was holding little Aiden in her arms," said Lance Northcutt, partner and attorney for the McCarthy family, Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard P.C. "This woman handed Dana little Aiden and said in some substance, ‘the blood isn’t ours and he’s not mine.’"

Video clips of the shooter’s initial interview with police were also shown on Wednesday. In it, Crimo expressed no remorse, said he felt like a zombie during the shooting, and told detectives he’d been planning the attack for two years. 

Details on the shooting

The backstory:

Authorities said Robert Crimo III, 24, confessed to police that he unleashed a hail of bullets on a crowd of people attending a July Fourth parade in Highland Park in 2022.

During a court hearing presenting the murder charges, Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Ben Dillon said Crimo climbed up the fire escape of a building above the parade, "looked down his sights, aimed" and fired at people across the street. He left 83 spent bullet casings and three ammunition magazines on the rooftop.

Witnesses described initial confusion as the shots began, followed by panic as families fled the parade route through downtown Highland Park, an affluent suburb of about 30,000 people near Lake Michigan.

Investigators said Crimo initially evaded capture by disguising himself as a woman and blending into the fleeing crowd to get away from the scene.

"Investigators do believe he did this to conceal his facial tattoos and his identity and help him during the escape with the other people who were fleeing the chaos," said Lake County Major Crime Task Force spokesman Christopher Covelli.

Crimo then borrowed his mother’s car and briefly contemplated a second attack on a celebration in Madison, Wisconsin, before returning to Illinois, where police arrested him.

Authorities said Crimo ditched the semi-automatic rifle he used in Illinois, but he had another, similar rifle and about 60 more rounds with him.

The attack left a toddler without parents, families mourning the loss of beloved grandparents and a synagogue grieving the death of a congregant who for decades had also worked on the staff.

Who were the victims?

Dozens of people were wounded during the attack, including 8-year-old Cooper Roberts who was left paralyzed from the waist down when the shooting severed his spine.

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.

KEVIN and IRINA MCCARTHY

It was supposed to be a fun day for the couple, who brought their 2-year-old son, Aiden, with them to watch marching bands and patriotic floats.

Instead, they were killed in the gunfire, leaving their son orphaned. A stranger scooped up the toddler and handed him to Greg Ring as he took cover with his wife and three children behind a popular pancake house.

The family was later able to identify the boy and reunite him with his grandparents. Friends of the McCarthys said Irina’s parents would care for the boy going forward.

STEPHEN STRAUS

Straus showed up to the parade early and was attending alone, according to his grandchildren, who ate dinner with him the night before.

The Independence Day parade was an annual tradition for Straus — one of the many ways the 88-year-old financial advisor stayed active and involved in his community. According to his family, Straus rode the train to work every day, walked and biked regularly, and loved to visit art museums and festivals.

Stephen Straus is survived by a brother, a wife, his son and four grandchildren.

JACQUELYN SUNDHEIM

Sundheim loved her synagogue, where she once taught preschoolers and coordinated bar and bat mitzvah ceremonies. She had worked there for decades and was a devoted, lifelong member known for her kindness and warmth, synagogue officials said in a statement.

Sundheim, 63, was survived by her husband, Bruce, and their daughter Leah, according to an email the synagogue sent to congregants.

KATHERINE GOLDSTEIN

Goldstein’s husband described her as an easygoing travel companion who was always game to visit far-flung locales.

"She didn’t complain," Craig Goldstein, a hospital physician, told The New York Times. "She was always along for the ride."

Goldstein was a mother of two daughters in their early 20s, Cassie and Alana. She attended the parade with her eldest daughter, Cassie, so she could reunite with friends from high school, Goldstein said.

NICOLAS TOLEDO-ZARAGOZA

Toledo-Zaragoza had come to Illinois to visit his family about two months before the shooting, according to his granddaughter, Xochil Toledo.

His family wanted him to stay permanently because of injuries he had suffered after being hit by a car a couple of years ago during an earlier visit to Highland Park. Toledo-Zaragoza was hit by three bullets and died at the scene.

EDUARDO UVALDO

For the Uvaldo family, like others in the Highland Park area, the Independence Day parade was an annual tradition.

When gunfire erupted from a rooftop along the parade route, Eduardo Uvaldo was shot twice. His wife, Maria, was struck in the head by bullet fragments and his grandson was shot in the arm.

What do we know about Crimo's past?

Dig deeper:

Robert Crimo III is the son of Denise Pesina and Robert Crimo Jr., a former Highland Park mayoral candidate in 2020 and president at Bob's Pantry & Deli in Highland Park.

Crimo was an aspiring rapper with the stage name "Awake the Rapper." An IMDB page previously stated that Crimo is a "six-foot Hip Hop phenom" born on Sept. 20, 2000. "He's the middle child of three and of Italian descent," the page reads.

Crimo began uploading his music to the internet at age 11, but first gained traction with his 2016 track "By The Pond," according to IMDB.

The rapper released a cryptic track called "Are You Awake" on Oct. 15, 2021. The track appears to suggest that Crimo was planning a life-defining act beyond his ability to stop. The video includes drawings of a man aiming a rifle at another person.

Police have said Crimo had two previous encounters with authorities.

In April 2019, Crimo attempted suicide by machete, according to a police report obtained by The Associated Press that noted a "history of attempts."

In September 2019, police returned after a family member reported that Crimo had a collection of knives and had threatened to "kill everyone." But according to Illinois State Police, both Crimo and his mother disputed the allegation.

"The individual told police he did not feel like hurting himself or others and was offered mental health resources," the statement said.

Police have said Crimo's father, Robert Crimo Jr., later told investigators the knives belonged to him, and authorities returned them.

When the younger Crimo applied for a state gun license in December 2019, his father supported it, a requirement for applicants who are under 21.

What's next:

It's unclear which prison Crimo will live out his days. Currently, he is being held at the Lake County Jail in Waukegan.

He will be transferred to an Illinois Department of Corrections facility soon. Rinehart said the determination on where he will be placed should be made in the coming days.

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