Highland Park parade shooter gets seven life sentences

“Irretrievably depraved, permanently incorrigible and beyond any rehabilitation” is how Lake County Judge Victoria Rossetti described the Highland Park shooter moments before she sentenced him to seven natural life sentences.

Rossetti said she hoped her sentence would offer justice for the seven people killed and the 48 injured during the mass shooting that took place during the city's 2022 Independence Day parade.

“No sentence can change the events of July 4 … nor can it compensate for the loss of a loved one or an injury,” she said.

Rossetti had nearly completed imposing the sentence when she abruptly called for a break. When court resumed, Lake County assistant public defender Anton Trizna informed the judge of a misunderstanding at the Lake County jail involving his client and his personal property.

“We have cleared up that misunderstanding,” he said of the incident which he said had nothing to do with the sentencing.

Robert E. Crimo III was a no-show at the sentencing hearings Wednesday and Thursday and declined to make a statement on his own behalf. The 24-year-old Highwood man has been incarcerated at the Lake County jail since his arrest hours after the shooting.

“He’s always known that he was facing life in prison,” said Lake County public defender Greg Ticsay of his client.

“He has spared this community the lengthy trial,” Ticsay added.

The gunman pleaded guilty March 3 to 21 counts of first-degree murder and 48 counts of attempted first-degree murder. Authorities say he perched atop a roof along the parade route and fired a military-style, semiautomatic rifle into the crowd below a little after 10 a.m. on July 4, 2022, killing seven people and wounding 48 others who ranged in age from 8 to 80.

Highland Park residents Katherine Goldstein, 64; Stephen Straus, 88; Jacquelyn “Jacki” Sundheim, 63; and Kevin McCarthy, 37, and his wife Irina McCarthy, 35, were killed along with Nicolas Toledo-Zaragoza, 78, of Morelos, Mexico, and Eduardo Uvaldo, 69, of Waukegan.

In addition to seven consecutive life terms, Rossetti imposed 50-year sentences for each of the 48 counts of attempted murder. She ordered those sentences to be served concurrently (at the same time) but consecutive to the life sentences. The sentence is the maximum allowed by law.

Highland Park mayor Nancy Rotering acknowledged that no sentence can erase the pain of “the profound loss of loved ones taken too soon, of the sense of safety that was shattered and of the futures that were forever altered.”

Speaking to reporters after the hearing, she promised support for survivors, families and “all who carry the weight of this tragedy.”

“This sentencing does not mark the end of our efforts,” she said. “It strengthens our resolve to push for meaningful change. It is another opportunity for a call to action as we continue to plead with our nation’s leaders to take decisive action to prevent future tragedies.”

Rotering and Lake County State's Attorney Eric Rinehart praised law enforcement officers and first responders who “ran toward the danger,” medical personnel and prosecutors.

Rinehart also extolled the bravery of families and survivors. He contrasted their courage with the offender's “cowardly, heinous” behavior which rocked the quiet North Shore community leaving a “vast ocean of grief, pain, trauma, heartache and loss” as expressed in 18 emotional victim impact statements delivered over two days.

During Thursday’s hearing, Lake County's chief prosecutor described the “cold, calculating, detailed planning” that preceded the shooter firing 83 rounds from a semiautomatic rifle within 40 seconds.

“This is a new level of premeditation,” he said referring to the police interrogation video shown Wednesday in which the shooter describes preparing for the attack by clocking police response times and surveilling the area where he intended to open fire.

In that same video the killer responded flippantly to an FBI agent's question about motive saying “sometimes you gotta crack a couple of eggs to make an omelet.”

Rinehart pointed to that statement as an indicator of the ruthlessness and lack of remorse shown by a killer who has never expressed “one scrap of decency.”

He “never confronts the indescribable pain” he caused, said Rinehart, who described the offender’s attitude during the police interview as cavalier, uncaring and merciless.

Echoing Rinehart, Rossetti also noted the shooter offered no motive for his crimes.

“His actions tell this court he was just a coward hiding behind a skirt, makeup and an assault weapon he used to terrorize a community,” she said, referencing how he disguised himself as a woman the day of the killings.

His statement about breaking eggs “couldn’t be further from the truth,” continued Rossetti. “The community and the victims are stronger than they’ve ever been. They are not broken.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.