The suburban Chicago man who admitted to fatally shooting seven people and wounding dozens of others during a 2022 Independence Day parade was sentenced Thursday to life in prison without the possibility of parole, reports the AP. Lake County Judge Victoria Rossetti handed down seven consecutive sentences of natural life in prison without the possibility of parole, as prosecutors requested, for the first-degree murder charges after hearing emotional testimony from survivors and the relatives of those killed in the shooting. After years of unpredictable legal proceedings, Robert E. Crimo III, 24, changed his plea to guilty last month just moments before opening statements at his trial.
Dozens were wounded in the shooting in the suburb about 30 miles north of Chicago. They ranged in age from their 80s to an 8-year-old boy who was left partially paralyzed. Crimo refused to attend his sentencing hearing Wednesday or Thursday despite a judge's previous warnings that the case would proceed without him. Crimo also declined to provide a written statement ahead of sentencing. "He's always known that he was facing life in prison," said Crimo's public defender, Gregory Ticsay. "He has spared this community the lengthy trial."
Survivors and witnesses told the court about how their lives have changed since the shooting. Keely Roberts, whose then-8-year-old son Cooper Roberts was paralyzed from the waist down, called Crimo "cowardly" for not attending. "You will not hear my grief," she said. "You are now irrelevant." It's unusual for defendants to skip trial, especially sentencing, but constitutionally they have the right not to attend. Often in violent cases, defendants will explain themselves or profess innocence before sentencing.
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Some survivors called Crimo a "monster," while another cited their faith in forgiving him. Many described feeling empty or facing deep sadness since the shooting. Some no longer attend public gatherings. "A mass shooting is like a bomb blast throughout a community," said survivor Erica Weeder. Prosecutors argued that Crimo was fully in control of his actions as he fired 83 shots over 40 seconds. "This was his evil plan. He intended to end the happiness that he saw around him," said Lake County State's Attorney Eric Rinehart.
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