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The mass shooter who killed seven people and wounded dozens in Highland Park on July 4 has been indicted on 117 felony charges.
Robert E. Crimo III was indicted by a grand jury on 21 first-degree murder counts, 48 attempted murder counts and 48 counts of aggravated battery for his role in the shooting at the Independence Day parade in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park.
Prosecutors said that 21-year-old Crimo admitted to the shooting during his arrest, following a police manhunt that lasted several hours. He was charged with seven murder charges.
Crimo’s attorneys with the county public defender’s office did not respond to the indictment.
Under Illinois law, prosecutors can ask a grand jury to decide whether there is probable cause to go to a trial after filing their own charges.
“I want to thank law enforcement and the prosecutors who presented evidence to the grand jury today,” Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart stated. “Our investigation continues, and our victim specialists are working around the clock to support all those affected by this crime that led to 117 felony counts being filed.”
Victims in the shooting range from ages 8 to 80, including a boy who was paralyzed from the waist down after a bullet severed his spine.
The boy’s mother later said in a video that the violence they witnessed allowed them to “see the unbelievably generous, caring, good and kind spirit that makes up the vast majority of our world.”
The boy, Cooper Roberts, has undergone several surgeries after the bullet damaged several internal organs before exiting his chest.
“He’s gonna teach a whole lot of people that the lesson in this is not that one person did this horrible thing,” she said. “The lesson in this is that thousands of people did great things, kind things and continue to do kind things.”
Prosecutors said that police found 80 shell casings lying on the rooftop of a building along the parade street. Crimo’s semi-automatic rifle lay on the ground nearby.
Investigators believe that Crimo left on foot by blending in with the fleeing crowd and then drove to Madison, Wisconsin, in his mother’s car, where he contemplated committing a second attack on a Fourth of July celebration in Madison, Wisconsin. When he returned to Illinois, police arrested him. If convicted, Crimo faces a maximum sentence of life in prison. So far, the shooter’s motive remains unclear.
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