Highland Park Mass Shooter Pleads Guilty Right Before Trial Was Set to Begin

A 24-year-old man has pleaded guilty to multiple murder charges after killing seven people, and injuring dozens more, at a July 4, 2022 parade in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park, The Associated Press reports. 

Robert E. Crimo III changed his original not-guilty plea to guilty moments before his trial was set to begin with opening statements Monday, March 3. During the hearing, Judge Victoria Rossetti asked Crimo several questions, confirming that he wanted to change his plea and asking if this was something he had discussed with his attorneys. Crimo responded, “Yes,” to both questions, and also said he understood the charges against him.

At one point, Crimo’s mother made a sound from her seat in the courtroom gallery and was admonished by the judge. 

Crimo pleaded guilty to 69 charges, including 21 counts of first-degree murder (three counts for each person killed) and 48-counts of attempted murder. (Last week, prosecutors dropped 48 lesser charges of aggravated battery.) He will be sentenced April 23 and will likely spend the rest of his life in prison without parole as each first-degree murder count carries a life sentence. 

Crimo’s public defender did not speak to the press after the hearing (and has declined to comment on the case throughout the legal proceedings). A rep for the Lake County, Illinois State Attorney’s office did not immediately return Rolling Stone‘s request for comment. 

The sudden plea change was, in some ways, characteristic of Crimo whose behavior has been erratic since his arrest in connection with the mass shooting. In 2023, he fired his public defenders, said he would represent himself, then changed his mind. Last June, he seemed ready to accept a plea deal and was slated to appear at a hearing where he would face survivors and the families of the seven victims; instead, he showed up to court in a wheelchair and rejected the plea deal. 

The survivors of the shooting have filed multiple civil suits related to the shooting, including one against the maker of the semiautomatic rifle that Crimo used.