(HIGHLAND PARK, Ill.) — Highland Park, Illinois, mass shooting suspect Robert Crimo III changed his plea to guilty on Monday as opening arguments in his trial were set to begin, according to Chicago ABC station WLS.
Crimo is accused of killing seven people and injuring dozens of others in the mass shooting at a 2022 Fourth of July parade in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park. He pleaded guilty to 21 counts of first-degree murder, three counts of each person killed, and dozens of attempted murder charges, according to WLS.
He is scheduled to be sentenced on April 23.
Jury selection wrapped up in the trial on Wednesday with opening statements planned for Monday. The trial was expected to take a few weeks.
Crimo told police he wore women’s clothing during the shooting and used makeup to hide his facial tattoos and blend in with the crowd during the chaos, prosecutors said. Crimo was apprehended hours later and prosecutors said he confessed to the shooting.
Crimo appeared ready to accept a guilty plea last June during a hearing, only to reject the deal in front of devastated members of the victims’ families. He was expected to plead guilty to seven counts of murder and 48 counts of aggravated battery with a firearm at the hearing at the time, according to The Associated Press.
“We have Fourth of July coming up and it will be two years,” Leah Sundheim, whose mother, Jacquelyn Sundheim, was killed in the shooting, said at a news conference at the time. “All I wanted was to be able to fully grieve my mom without the looming trial, knowing that he was going to spend the rest of his life in jail. And instead, we were yet again shown [Crimo’s] complete and blatant disregard for humans.”
Crimo’s father, Robert Crimo Jr., who was present during jury selection and again on Monday, pleaded guilty last year to reckless conduct, admitting to signing the Firearm Owner’s Identification card for his son to apply for gun ownership. He did not answer questions while leaving court Monday.
The younger Crimo was 19 at the time and and too young to get a FOID card on his own. Illinois at the time required people ages 18, 19 or 20 to have parent or guardian authorization.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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