Illinois man charged in July 4th parade mass shooting expected to change plea to not guilty

WAUKEGAN, Ill. — A man accused of killing seven people and injuring dozens more during a Fourth of July parade in suburban Chicago in 2022 is expected to change his initial plea to not guilty at a hearing Wednesday .

Robert Crimo III is expected to go on trial in February on dozens of charges, including murder and attempted murder, for the shooting in Highland Park. Lake County prosecutors confirmed last week that Crimo may change his plea to not guilty at a hearing scheduled for Wednesday morning, about a week before the second anniversary of the mass shooting.

The statement released by Lake County State's Attorney Eric Rinehart's office did not provide further details on the expected changes or how they might influence sentencing. Crimo would face a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted of first-degree murder.

The public defender's office, which is defending Crimo, did not respond to a request for comment last week and generally does not comment on its cases.

The criminal case has been moving slowly for months. At one point, Crimo insisted he wanted to fire his public defenders and represent himself. He abruptly reversed that decision a few weeks later.

Authorities said the accused shooter confessed to police days after opening fire from a rooftop in Highland Park, an affluent suburb home to about 30,000 people near the shores of Lake Michigan. They said he first fled to the Madison, Wis., area and contemplated a second shooting at a parade there, but returned to the northern suburbs of Chicago.

Those killed in the attack were Katherine Goldstein, 64; Jacquelyn Sundheim, 63; Stephen Straus, 88; Nicolas Toledo-Zaragoza, 78 years old; and Eduardo Uvaldo, 69, and married couple Kevin McCarthy, 37, and Irina McCarthy, 35.

The McCarthys' 2-year-old son was found alone at the scene and was eventually reunited with his extended family members.

All were from the Highland Park area, except for Toledo-Zaragoza, who was visiting family in the city of Morelos, Mexico.

The violence drew attention to Highland Park's 2013 ban on semi-automatic weapons and high-capacity magazines. Illinois officials have long argued that legal and illegal guns are easily purchased in neighboring states, hampering the effectiveness of even the strictest local laws.

Authorities said Crimo, a resident of nearby Highwood, purchased the rifle legally. But he first applied for a state firearms license in 2019, when he was 19, too young to apply independently in Illinois.

His father sponsored the request, although police reports show that a few months earlier, a relative reported to police that Crimo III had threatened to “kill everyone” and made several suicide threats.

Prosecutors initially charged the father, Robert Crimo Jr., with seven counts of reckless driving and he pleaded guilty in November to seven misdemeanor counts of reckless driving. He was sentenced to 60 days in jail and released early for good behavior.

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