Law enforcement and survivors took the stand Wednesday to describe the Fourth of July parade mass shooting in Highland Park on the first day of the shooter’s sentencing hearing.
The first day of sentencing for Robert Crimo III, 24, of Highwood, began on Wednesday morning at the Lake County Courthouse in Waukegan, overseen by Lake County Judge Victoria Rossetti.
Crimo III refused to be transported from the Lake County Jail to the courtroom for the hearing.
Lake County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Chief Christopher Covelli said Crimo III has been previously admonished by the court that the court proceedings against him will continue even if he does not come to court.
“This morning, he indicated he did not wish to attend. His attorneys were summoned to meet with him. He still declined, so the hearing commenced without him,” Covelli said.
Crimo III does not have access to watch the sentencing hearing remotely after he refused to attend. He is currently considered a high-risk inmate and is not housed with any other inmates.
Numerous survivors and law enforcement officers took the witness stand during the sentencing hearing, revealing new details on the July 4, 2022, parade shooting in downtown Highland Park.
Now-retired Highland Park Police Commander Gerald Cameron Jr. said thousands of people lined the parade route for the Independence Day parade as a band performed.
Cameron described hearing the gunshots and responding toward the scene. He said people had sought shelter in businesses and “they were horrified.”
Video was played in court showing the band marching as shots were fired and people fled.
“I was panicked,” Highland Park mother Dana Ruder Ring testified, saying that she had been hit by shrapnel in the right foot while fleeing the scene.
She also said that she and her husband helped a toddler to safety as Crimo III opened fire.
The toddler’s parents, Kevin and Irina McCarthy, were later learned to have been fatally shot in the incident.
Dr. Jeremy Smiley, who works for Endeavor Health, said he traded shifts so he could attend the Fourth of July parade in Highland Park as he does every year with his family.
Smiley said he heard what he thought were firecrackers but were actually gunshots.
He described his father as being in a daze and he questioned whether he should go back for his father or keep pushing forward to safety with his children. Smiley said, “It was scary for me.”
Smiley also said that he ended up going to the hospital to help treat the shooting patients.
He said that he cared for Cooper Roberts, who was eight at the time and was left paralyzed when a bullet severed his spinal cord.
Smiley said he thinks about Cooper every day as he recalled his initial feeling of walking in and seeing the critically injured boy.
Prosecutors played video from the interrogation of Crimo III and his confession after Highland Park Police Officer Brian Bodden, who was a detective at the time of the shooting, took the stand.
Bodden participated in the interview with Crimo III and said the suspect had told him he was trying to aim at the adults, not children. Crimo III said he was specifically aiming for the chest and up.
Crimo III told detectives he watched the crowd of people keep running into each other after he started shooting. He also said that big groups were trying to run away from the shooting but were unknowingly running toward him.
Crimo III was able to describe the first victim whom he shot and where exactly he first began shooting.
The suspect mentioned the terms “sleepwalker” and “zombie” during the interrogation.
Bodden said Crimo III had written songs making reference to those terms just before the shooting.
Crimo III told investigators he had planned the mass shooting for a couple of years and rode on his e-bike to scout the area. He had taken photos of the area and had previously been on the rooftop where he fired the shots.
Crimo III said that he watched the police department and even timed officer response times to other calls.
Leah Sundheim read a victim impact statement to the court on behalf of her father, whose wife, Jacki Sundheim, was killed in the shooting.
“For many of us, the pain and sorrow of our loss is still fresh, visceral, and at times too much to bear,” Bruce Sundheim said in the statement.
“You murdered my soulmate, my wife of 33 years, and the mother of my only child,” he said, describing his wife as a “wonderful person” and a “loving wife.”
Many other survivors and family members of victims took the stand to read victim impact statements after Sundheim.
The sentencing hearing concluded for the day late Wednesday afternoon and is set to continue on Thursday morning. It could last until Friday.
Crimo III pleaded guilty on March 3 to all 69 charges — 21 counts of first-degree murder and 48 counts of attempted murder. The surprise plea came as Crimo III’s trial entered its fourth day.
Crimo III opened fire on parade-goers near Second Street and Central Avenue in Highland Park.
Prosecutors said Crimo III admitted to “looking down his sights” of his Smith & Wesson M&P 15 semi-automatic rifle before opening fire on the Highland Park crowd.
Crimo III told investigators he fired two full 30-round magazines before loading a third 30-round magazine and firing.
Seven people were killed and 48 others were shot. 83 spent shell casings were recovered at the scene.
Crimo III will be sentenced to mandatory natural life in prison since he was convicted of killing more than one person, according to Illinois law.
Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart said last month that the guilty plea was about the victims and survivors of the shooting.
“Our community may never heal from the Defendant’s calculated and heinous actions that destroyed so many lives. But today is an important step about justice. Today is about Katie Goldstein, Irina McCarthy, Kevin McCarthy, Stephen Strauss, Jackie Sundeim, Nicolas Toledo-Zaragoza, Eduardo Uvaldo and 48 others who were physically hurt – who bled, who cried, who may never heal,” Rinehart said.
“Today is also about the hundreds who still remember and feel the trauma from that awful day – a day that should have been about celebration and recovering from the pandemic. Instead, it turned into a day of death and anguish for so many,” he said.