The man declares himself guilty of 7 murders in shooting at the July 4 parade, Suburban Chicago

By Sophia Tareen Associated Press

Waukegan, Ill (AP) – A man from Illinois declared himself guilty on Monday of killing seven people and wounding more dozens when he opened fire by a parade of the independence day of 2022 in a suburb of Chicago, a surprising development moments before opening arguments in his trial for charges of murder and attempted murder.

Appearing in a Lake County Circuit Room, Robert E. Crimto III, 23, withdrew his previous non -guilty plea in Highland Park shooting.

Prosecutors initially accused him of 21 positions of first degree murder, three positions for each person murdered, as well as 48 positions of murder attempt. The prosecutors withdrew the 48 less serious charges of aggravated battery before the start of the trial with the jury selection last week.

On Monday, Judge Victoria Rossetti read the charges to Cruco and asked questions to ensure that she understood before any open statement to the Court was read. He was sitting next to his lawyers with a dark suit.

“Is that what you went to with your lawyers?” Rossetti asked.

“Yes,” he answered the judge.

He gave answers of a word, which indicates that he understood the charges. His mother, Denise Pesina, had a brief outbreak in the news and was called to the judge for a warning.

“We are going to advance. You are not part of this procedure. If you want to stay in the courtroom, please make sure and streets, ”the judge told him.

He was allowed to stay.

The judge said that with the change in the statement of guilt, there would be no judgment or additional motions in the case.

“He has resigned of those rights to the killing and voluntarily and voluntarily declared himself guilty,” Rossetti said.

Lake County prosecutors read the names of all those killed in the shooting and the injured in the shooting, and the judge stopped to ask questions to ensure that Crimeo understands.

They reviewed substantial evidence, including their impressions in the weapon used in the crime, and statements to the police that admitted the mass shooting.

The sentence will come on April 23, but position will surely spend the rest of his life behind bars. Each first -degree murder position entails a natural sentence of life imprisonment.

Crimpo did not add up to the Court or ask questions before leaving the courtroom.

His defense lawyers refused to comment before trial.

The security was very tight for the procedures in the Lake County Palace of Justice, with multiple bag controls and observers required to block their phones. The crowd in what was supposed to be opening statements included survivors and their relatives.

The jury members, who were elected last week, had not even let themselves into the courtroom when the plea occurred.

It was expected that the trial that began on February 24 will last approximately one month with the testimony of the survivors and the police. Prosecutors had presented thousands of pages of evidence, as well as hours of a video recorded on video during which the police say that Crimto confessed the shooting. But the 24 -year -old had declared himself innocent.

Dozens of people were injured in the shooting in the suburb at about 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of Chicago. The injured ranged from 80 years of age to an 8 -year -old boy who was partially paralyzed.

The witnesses described the confusion when the shots began, followed by panic when the families fled from the center of the center’s parade, leaving the garden chairs and strollers behind to find security within the companies or nearby homes.

The authorities said Crimto perched on a roof and shot crowds gathered for the annual parade of July 4 in the center of Highland Park.

The criminal case continued slowly for months, partly due to Crimto’s unpredictable behavior. In June 2024, when he was expected to accept a statement of guilt and give victims and family the opportunity to address him publicly, position was presented to the courts in a wheelchair and rejected the agreement, even surprising his lawyers.

He also fired his public defenders and said he would represent himself. Then it was abruptly reversed.

As the potential jury interrogated last week, he appeared sporadically in court, sometimes refusing to leave his jail cell.

The trial occurred almost two years after the case of his father focused on how position he obtained a weapons license.

In 2019, at age 19, Cruco was only allowed to request a weapons license with the sponsorship of a father or guardian. His father agreed, although a relative had informed the police that his son had a collection of knives and had threatened to “kill everyone.”

His father, Robert Crimeo Jr., a candidate for mayor in time, was accused in relation to how his son obtained a weapons license. He declared himself guilty in 2023 of seven minor crimes of reckless conduct and turned less than two months in jail.

He has attended his son’s audience, sometimes making visual contact with him during the court. He refused to discuss the case in detail before the trial.

“As a father, I love my son a lot,” he said. “And Bobby loves this country more than anyone knows.”

The residents of the rich Highland Park community of approximately 30,000 sets along the Michigan Lake have deeply cried the losses. Some members of the potential jury were excused due to their connections with the case.

The city leaders canceled the usual parade in 2023, opting for a “community walk.” The parade was restored last year on a different route and with a monument for the victims.

“Our community is remembered once again the immense pain and the trauma caused by the shooting in Highland Park,” said Highland Park mayor Nancy Rothering, in a statement before the jury selection. “Our hearts remain with the victims, their families and all those whose lives were changed forever for that devastating day.”

The victims killed in the shooting included Katherine Goldstein, 64; Jacquelyn Sundheim, 63; Stephen Straus, 88; Nicolas Toledo-Zaragoza, 78; Eduardo Uvaldo, 69; And he married the Kevin McCarthy couple, 37, and Irina McCarthy, 35.

The survivors and their families have filed multiple demands, even against the semi -automatic rifle manufacturer used in the shooting and against the authorities they accuse of negligence.