Robert E. Crimo III, the mass shooter who murdered seven people in Highland Park, Illinois, on July 4, 2022, has been sentenced to life in prison for the attack.
Crimo was sentenced Thursday to life without the possibility of parole.
The judge described Crimo as “irreparably corrupt and beyond any rehabilitation.”
The 24-year-old killer was given seven consecutive sentences of natural life in prison without the possibility of parole.
He was sentenced for the first-degree murder charges he pleaded guilty to last month.
As she announced the sentencing, Lake County Judge Victoria Rossetti said:
“This court has absolutely no words that could adequately describe and capture the horror and pain that was inflicted on July 4th.”
She described Crimo as having “a complete disregard for human life.”
The judge added that Crimo “is irretrievably depraved, permanently incorrigible, irreparably corrupt and beyond any rehabilitation,” according to the Associated Press.
Crimo refused to attend his sentencing hearing on Wednesday or Thursday.
The refusal came despite Rossetti’s previous warnings that the case would proceed without him.
Aside from killing seven people, Crimo’s attack also left 48 others injured.
Keely Roberts’ 8-year-old son was left permanently disabled after being shot by Crimo.
Cooper Roberts is now paralyzed from the waist down.
The mom told the court that Crimo was “cowardly” for not attending his sentencing hearing.
“You will not hear my grief,” she said.
“You are now irrelevant.”
During the attack, Crimo climbed on a roof above the Fourth of July parade in downtown Highland Park, 30 miles north of Chicago.
He then opened fire on spectators with a Smith & Wesson M&P 15 rifle.
The seven victims who died in the shooting are:
- Jacki Sundheim, 63
- Nicolas Toledo-Zaragoza, 78
- Irina McCarthy, 35
- Kevin McCarthy, 37
- Katherine Goldstein, 64
- Stephen Straus, 88
- Edwardo Uvaldo, 69
The killer’s father, Robert Crimo Jr., a former mayoral candidate, was charged in connection with the attack.
He pleaded guilty in 2023 to seven misdemeanor counts of reckless conduct.
He served less than two months in jail.
