Washington (AFP) – A 24-year-old man accused of firing from a rooftop on a US Independence Day parade, killing seven people and injuring 48, pleaded guilty on Monday just minutes before opening arguments were set to begin in his trial. Robert Crimo III was charged with murder, attempted murder, and dozens of other counts for the attack on a July 4, 2022 parade in the affluent Chicago suburb of Highland Park. Jury selection was completed last week, and opening arguments in Crimo’s trial were scheduled to begin on Monday at the Lake County Courthouse in Waukegan, Illinois. But Crimo changed his plea to guilty just moments before they began. Sentencing was set for April 23. Crimo faces a sentence of life in prison without parole.
Ashbey Beasley, a Highland Park resident, was among the members of the public who had turned up for opening arguments. “My son and I were at the parade and ran for our lives,” Beasley told Fox 32 TV. She said the guilty plea was met in court with a “huge collective feeling of relief.” “Our community wanted justice,” Beasley said. According to prosecutors, Crimo climbed onto a rooftop overlooking the parade route armed with a semi-automatic rifle and emptied three 30-round magazines into the crowd before fleeing. Crimo was allegedly disguised in women’s clothing and had used makeup to conceal several distinctive facial tattoos, including the word “Awake” above his left eyebrow and the number “47” on his temple. He was captured about eight hours later following a car chase.
Crimo’s father, Robert Crimo Jr., pleaded guilty in November 2023 to reckless conduct for helping his son obtain the assault rifle used in the shooting, a rare case in which a parent was held criminally responsible for the actions of their child. Crimo Jr., who owned a delicatessen in Highland Park and once ran for mayor, pleaded guilty to seven misdemeanor counts for helping his son obtain a state firearms permit even though he knew he had a history of mental illness. He was sentenced to 60 days in jail.
Amid a huge number of deadly firearms incidents involving young people, pressure has been mounting in the United States to punish parents who make it possible for their children to get weapons. The parents of a 15-year-old boy who killed four people at a high school in Michigan in 2021 were convicted of involuntary manslaughter last year for buying their son a gun even though they were aware of troubling signs that he might be a threat.
According to police, Robert Crimo III had a history of erratic behavior. Police were called to the Crimo home twice in 2019: once in April to investigate a suicide attempt by the younger Crimo and again in September because a relative said he had threatened to “kill everyone” in the family. Located 25 miles (40 kilometers) north of Chicago, Highland Park is known for being home to some of Chicago’s elite: basketball superstar Michael Jordan lived there during his years with the NBA’s Bulls. And in the 1980s, Highland Park served as the backdrop for iconic films including “Risky Business” and “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.”
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