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| Eric Rinehart |
In a courtroom heavy with the weight of "oceans of grief," Robert “Bobby” Crimo III, the 24-year-old scumcrumpet who turned a 2022 Fourth of July parade in Highland Park into a slaughter, was sentenced to life without parole Thursday. Judge Victoria Rossetti didn’t mince words: "The court finds he’s irrevocably depraved," she said, slamming the gavel on any hope of rehabilitation for the man who killed seven and wounded nearly 50.
Crimo, true to form, couldn’t even be bothered to show up. His lawyer said he skipped the sentencing hearing that kicked off Wednesday and refused to address the court. His family? They bailed too, per a lawyer for Crimo’s dad.
The cowardice didn’t shock Liz Turnipseed, shot in the pelvis that day and still hobbling. "I wasn’t surprised at all," she told reporters outside court. "I don’t need to see his face. I know what he looks like. I watched the videos with the confession that was enough to see how cavalier he was about murdering seven people."
The Highland Park parade, about 30 miles from Chicago, was a bloodbath. Crimo’s 83 shots in 40 seconds ended the lives of Stephen Straus, 88; Nicolas Toledo-Zaragoza, 78; Eduardo Uvaldo, 69; Katherine Goldstein, 64; Jacquelyn Sundheim, 63; and Kevin and Irina McCarthy, 37 and 35, leaving their son Aidan orphaned.
The Highland Park parade, about 30 miles from Chicago, was a bloodbath. Crimo’s 83 shots in 40 seconds ended the lives of Stephen Straus, 88; Nicolas Toledo-Zaragoza, 78; Eduardo Uvaldo, 69; Katherine Goldstein, 64; Jacquelyn Sundheim, 63; and Kevin and Irina McCarthy, 37 and 35, leaving their son Aidan orphaned.
Cooper Roberts, just 8-years-old, was paralyzed.
"In the middle of that joy, in the middle of that celebration, 83 shots rang out… Eighty-three attempts to reduce light in the world," Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart told the court, his voice cutting through sobs and embraces in the room.
Even with a life sentence all but guaranteed, tension gripped the courtroom until Rossetti’s ruling. "We just all held our breath just to make sure that he would never, ever be free again," said Ashley Beasley, a Highland Park resident who was at the parade. "And now that that's happened, it's like we can exhale."
A bizarre hiccup nearly derailed things when a sheriff’s deputy slipped Rossetti a note, halting proceedings. Survivors thought Crimo might finally face them. Nope—just him whining about missing jail property, his lawyers said. "The offender had a concern about something that was happening in the jail," Rinehart told reporters, brushing it off. "It was not related to the sentencing hearing."
Wednesday’s testimony set the stage, with over a dozen witnesses reliving the horror. Erica Weeder, who survived alongside her husband John Kezdy—later killed in a 2023 bike accident—laid bare the scars. “Because of this mass shooting, this act of terror,” she said, “I and my children and entire community now know no one is ever really safe.” Weeder flinches at construction noise, haunted by a day that won’t let go.
Crimo, after his capture, claimed he tried to avoid kids, aiming “chest up” at adults. What a considerate piece of human feces.
A bizarre hiccup nearly derailed things when a sheriff’s deputy slipped Rossetti a note, halting proceedings. Survivors thought Crimo might finally face them. Nope—just him whining about missing jail property, his lawyers said. "The offender had a concern about something that was happening in the jail," Rinehart told reporters, brushing it off. "It was not related to the sentencing hearing."
Wednesday’s testimony set the stage, with over a dozen witnesses reliving the horror. Erica Weeder, who survived alongside her husband John Kezdy—later killed in a 2023 bike accident—laid bare the scars. “Because of this mass shooting, this act of terror,” she said, “I and my children and entire community now know no one is ever really safe.” Weeder flinches at construction noise, haunted by a day that won’t let go.
Crimo, after his capture, claimed he tried to avoid kids, aiming “chest up” at adults. What a considerate piece of human feces.
Illinois’ lack of a death penalty left life without parole as the max punishment—a fact that stings for some. Lance Northcutt, representing the McCarthys’ orphaned son, put it bluntly: "Justice would be that little Aidan McCarthy would walk out of a kindergarten today and see his mother and his father waiting there with open arms to greet him."
The sentence? Seven consecutive life terms for the murders, plus a 50-year term for attempted murder and 47 more concurrent 50-year terms. "He will not survive his first life sentence, then there would be six more," Rinehart said, driving the point home.
Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering, outside court, nailed the bitter irony of Crimo’s rampage on a day celebrating freedom. "Our peer nations can't understand how we put up with this," she said. "But how free are you if you're constantly worried that somebody's going to come leave 83 bullets on your community in under a minute? That's not freedom."
The courtroom’s exhale doesn’t erase the trauma. It just locks the monster away.
Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering, outside court, nailed the bitter irony of Crimo’s rampage on a day celebrating freedom. "Our peer nations can't understand how we put up with this," she said. "But how free are you if you're constantly worried that somebody's going to come leave 83 bullets on your community in under a minute? That's not freedom."
The courtroom’s exhale doesn’t erase the trauma. It just locks the monster away.
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