Crime & Law
Survivors of Highland Park Parade Shooting Recount ‘Utter Chaos’ as Gunman Sentenced to Consecutive Life Terms
Nearly three years after one of the deadliest mass shootings in Illinois history, victims from the Highland Park parade shooting and their loved ones hoped to finally confront the man responsible, but he refused to attend his own sentencing hearing.
Despite his absence, the sentencing hearing for Robert Crimo III, 24, began Wednesday morning at the Lake County Courthouse more than a month after he abruptly pleaded guilty to killing seven people and wounding 48 others during the 2022 parade festivities.
On Thursday, Lake County Judge Victoria Rossetti announced her sentence: Crimo was handed seven consecutive life terms, along with the maximum of 50 years in prison on each of the 48 counts of attempted murder he faced.
“This court has absolutely no idea what motive there might have been, to right some wrongs, or just because,” she said, calling Crimo “irretrievably depraved” and beyond any possible rehabilitation. “But his actions tell this court that he was just a coward, hiding behind a skirt, makeup and an assault weapon that he used to terrorize a community.”
Rossetti's sentencing decision was all but a formality: life in prison without the possibility of parole, a requirement after Crimo pleaded guilty to 21 counts of first-degree murder — three for each of the seven people killed — and 48 counts of attempted murder.
Crimo refused to attend Wednesday’s hearing, opting instead to remain in his cell at the Lake County Jail, just as he did for some pre-trial hearings and portions of jury selection.
After once again refusing to leave his jail cell to attend the second day of his sentencing, Crimo’s attorneys said Thursday their client had declined to make any oral or written allocution and had directed them to present no mitigation evidence on his behalf.
“Bobby Crimo has resigned himself to his fate of a natural life sentence,” defense attorney Gregory Ticsay told the court. “He will die in prison after serving just one life sentence.”
Rossetti noted that Crimo had been informed that his sentencing could take place without him present, and opted to move ahead with the hearing in his absence.
In asking the court to sentence Crimo to seven consecutive life sentences, Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart on Thursday said the 83 shots fired over 40 seconds that day caused an “ocean of damage.”
“Eighty-three attempts to hurt people, 83 attempts to do as much damage as possible, 83 attempts terrorize an entire community and beyond, 83 attempts to kill, 83 attempts to reduce light in the world,” he said. “This was his evil plan. He intended to end the happiness that he saw around him.”
Rinehart added that many victims believe no possible sentence could be considered true justice due to the “sheer enormity and brutal nature of this crime.”
The sentencing was delayed briefly Thursday after it appeared Crimo had changed his mind and intended to come to court, but his attorneys later stated there was simply a miscommunication between Crimo and jail staff about some of his books that had been confiscated.
‘It went from watching a parade to utter chaos’
Before the sentence was issued, victims and their family members were invited to share impact statements about how the shooting has affected their lives.
They recounted the lasting damage done to their lives. They called Crimo a coward and a terrorist and described his shooting as a “violent tantrum.”
Those who were wounded described the physical pain they endured, while others described emotional trauma that never stopped — nightmares, traumatic stress and an ongoing fear of attending large events.
“There is no redemption for you in this life, only penance which will never be served in full for such a horrific act,” said Cynthia Straus, whose uncle, Stephen Straus, was killed in the shooting.
Victims family and media members wait before the sentencing hearing for Robert E. Crimo III., at the Lake County Courthouse, in Waukegan, Ill., Wednesday, April 23, 2025. (AP Photo / Nam Y. Huh, Pool)
More than 50 people were shot, including seven people who were killed: 64-year-old Katherine Goldstein; 35-year-old Irina McCarthy and her 37-year-old husband Kevin McCarthy; 63-year-old Jacquelyn Sundheim; 88-year-old Stephen Straus; 78-year-old Nicolas Toledo-Zaragoza; and 69-year-old Eduardo Uvaldo.
The parade kicked off that morning as a joyous occasion, as thousands lined downtown Highland Park for the city's first Fourth of July parade in three years following the COVID-19 pandemic. But witnesses on Wednesday said the festivities were soon interrupted by a “popping” sound.
“I first thought it was stupid kids putting firecrackers off too close to a crowd,” said Dana Ruder Ring, who was in attendance with her husband and three kids, “but then quickly realized the sound was not stopping and in that moment, essentially, it went from watching a parade to utter chaos.”
She told the court her family hid behind a pillar and attempted to flee once they heard a break in the shooting. They made their way to an underground garage where they’d parked their car when they were approached by another woman carrying a young boy.
“He was covered in blood, he had one shoe missing,” Ruder Ring said. “It was surreal.”
Ruder Ring said the woman was visibly shaken, but told them, “The blood’s not ours, he’s not mine,” before she handed the boy over to her. Ruder Ring and her family took the boy and drove from the area to a local fire station, which she described as “another war scene” with personnel scrambling to respond to the shooting.
According to Ruder Ring, they were unable to hand the boy over there and instead gave them their contact information and took him to their home.
She said she kept asking the boy his name, but his only response was “Mom and Dada come find me soon. They’re gonna come get me soon.”
Ruder Ring said Wednesday she only learned later the boy was the son of Kevin and Irina McCarthy.
Gerald Cameron, a commander with the Highland Park Police Department, was assigned to handle traffic and crowd control on the day of the parade.
Retired Commander Gerald Cameron from Highland Park Police Department, answers questions from with Lake County, Ill., State's Attorney Eric Rinehart during the sentencing hearing for Robert E. Crimo III., at the Lake County Courthouse, in Waukegan, Ill., Wednesday, April 23, 2025. (AP Photo / Nam Y. Huh, Pool)
While standing at Central Avenue and Green Bay Road, Cameron told the court, he heard a noise he first thought was either fireworks or a car backfiring — but after that sound paused and then began again with a “rhythmic pace,” he knew it was gunfire.
“As I was moving eastbound, people were running to the west frantically, panicked,” Cameron testified Wednesday.
Cameron saw multiple people lying in the street with gunshot wounds as first responders began rendering aid. He recalled seeing one woman “covered in blood” in a folding chair while first responders attempted to administer CPR.
He told the court Wednesday he later learned that woman was Sundheim.
Jeremy Smiley, a doctor working at Highland Park Hospital, testified Wednesday he was in attendance at the parade with his family. When the shooting began, they escaped to their vehicle and fled, but as they drove, Smiley said he told his wife to take him straight to the hospital.
“(With) the number of shots, it was just clear whatever this was, it was gonna be really bad,” he said in court.
Once there, Smiley recalled seeing blood on the floor, staff running around and what seemed like an “endless” flow of patients being rushed in by ambulance.
Dr. Jeremy Smiley reacts as he answers a question from Lake County Assistant State's Attorney Ben Dillon during the sentencing hearing for Robert E. Crimo III., at the Lake County Courthouse, in Waukegan, Ill., Wednesday, April 23, 2025. (Nam Y. Huh / AP Photo, Pool)
“It was a scene I haven’t seen probably ever in my career,” Smiley said.
One of those patients Smiley encountered was a young boy in the emergency room who’d been shot and appeared unresponsive. He later learned the boy was 8-year-old Cooper Roberts — the youngest of the parade’s shooting victims.
Smiley recalled the life-saving efforts medical staff provided, saying that “fortunately things moved very quickly for him” as they rushed to get Roberts into surgery.
“He was just critically sick,” Smiley said. “He was just very, very badly injured.”
Roberts survived his injuries, but was left paralyzed from the waist down and faced a lengthy recovery.
In court Wednesday, Smiley said there hasn’t been a day that’s passed since the parade where he hasn’t thought about Roberts.
“That initial feeling, quite frankly, of walking in and seeing someone like my kids’ age sick like that,” he said. “That’ll never leave me.”
Crimo’s unexpected change in plea came in a packed courtroom just moments before opening statements in his trial were set to begin in early March. Rinehart at that time called that guilty plea “an important step toward justice,” but noted that victims — many of whom were set to testify about their experiences — were still processing Crimo’s decision.
Crimo was accused of firing 83 rounds from a Smith & Wesson M&P 15 semi-automatic rifle during the attack before disguising himself in women’s clothing in order to conceal distinctive face and neck tattoos and blend into the crowd as he made his escape.
He accessed a business rooftop at the corner of Central Avenue and 2nd Street through a fire escape and began firing down on pedestrians about 15 minutes after the downtown parade began.
One witness told investigators Crimo was “scanning the crowd” just before they saw muzzle flashes coming from the rifle, prosecutors said. Investigators recovered numerous surveillance and cell phone videos from the scene, one of which allegedly showed Crimo running from an alley near the business and dropping an object wrapped in cloth.
‘Just no remorse’
While Crimo wasn’t in court Wednesday, the court still heard him describe the shooting in his own words, taken from a police interview on July 4, 2022, just hours after his arrest.
Brian Bodden, a Highland Park detective who conducted that interview, said Crimo never denied that he was the shooter and told investigators that he’d been methodically planning the shooting for years.
Crimo would bike around downtown to scope out the area and timed police responses to other emergencies, Bodden said. Crimo also mapped out the parade route and repeatedly visited the alleyway behind the business rooftop where he shot from.
According to Bodden, Crimo had wanted to carry out his attack in 2020, but was unable to do so because festivities were halted due to the pandemic.
On the day of the shooting, Bodden said Crimo did have second thoughts about opening fire as he struggled to assemble his rifle while listening to the song “Hell’s Bells” by AC/DC.
But once he got the weapon put together, he decided to go through with it, Bodden said.
“He ran up the stairs, he inserted a 30-round magazine, charged it … and he just went up there and started firing,” Bodden said.
Crimo during his interview described seeing people clustered together on the street below who started running into each other as he started firing.
According to Bodden, Crimo said he attempted to aim “chest up” at adults and people who were standing, rather than children. Crimo also said he didn’t want to “maim people” but instead wanted to “make it quick.”
Victims, Keely Roberts, left, Sheila Gutman, center, and Dana Ruder Ring react during the sentencing hearing for Robert E. Crimo III., at the Lake County Courthouse, in Waukegan, Ill., Wednesday, April 23, 2025. (AP Photo / Nam Y. Huh, Pool)
After the shooting, Crimo drove from Illinois to Wisconsin and considered shooting up another parade in Madison, but he ultimately decided against doing so.
Throughout the interview, Bodden said, Crimo was relaxed, often laughing and joking with detectives as he spoke.
“He was never serious,” he said, “No remorse, just no remorse.”
Wednesday’s hearing also provided an extended look into the investigation and evidence that would have been used at trial. Prosecutors displayed videos depicting the shooting and showed photos and drone footage of the areas where victims were struck and killed.
Mark Recca, an FBI special agent tasked with photographing bodies and the area itself after the shooting, described what appeared to be a “post-apocalyptic” scene on the streets of Highland Park.
“There’s not many times you can go to a downtown area of any city and see (it) just completely absent of life,” Recca said. “People got out of there as quick as they could. One shoe, two shoe, purses, wallets, just all sorts of stuff strewn about.”
Crimo’s decision to plead guilty was not a result of any plea negotiations, Rinehart said, and was made without any sentencing recommendation from prosecutors. He was previously set to enter a guilty plea last June, but abruptly backed out and refused to do so.
Crimo’s father, Robert Crimo Jr., also pleaded guilty on the day he was set to go to trial in November 2023 on reckless conduct charges for helping his son purchase firearms prior to the shooting.
This story was initially published April 23 and has been updated.
