Illinois man rejects guilty plea deal over seven killings at July 4 parade

The man accused of killing seven people at a 2022 Independence Day parade in Chicago has rejected a deal requiring him to plead guilty to seven charges of murder in a stunning courtroom scene just days before the second anniversary of the attack.

Appearing in a Lake County courtroom, Robert E Crimo III, 23, refused to accept the agreement that prosecutors said would mean a life sentence for him in the Highland Park shooting.

Prosecutors initially charged him with 21 counts of first-degree murder — three counts for each person killed — as well as 48 counts of attempted murder and 48 counts of aggravated battery.

Dozens of people were wounded in the 2022 shooting. The wounded ranged in age from their 80s down to an eight-year-old boy who was left partially paralysed.

Witnesses described initial confusion as the shots began, followed by panic as families fled the parade route through Highland Park, leaving behind chairs, bicycles and prams in the rush to find safety inside nearby businesses or homes.

The criminal case has proceeded slowly for months. At one point, Crimo insisted he wanted to fire his public defenders and represent himself. He abruptly reversed that decision weeks later.

Wednesday’s hearing was announced last week, though he was not scheduled to return to court until August.

Authorities have said the accused gunman confessed to police in the days after he opened fire from a rooftop in Highland Park, an affluent suburb that is home to about 30,000 people near the Lake Michigan shore.

They said he initially fled to the Madison, Wisconsin, area and contemplated a second shooting at a parade there but returned to Chicago’s northern suburbs.

Those killed in the attack were Katherine Goldstein, 64; Jacquelyn Sundheim, 63; Stephen Straus, 88; Nicolas Toledo-Zaragoza, 78; and Eduardo Uvaldo, 69, and married couple Kevin McCarthy, 37, and Irina McCarthy, 35.

The McCarthys’ two-year-old son was found alone at the scene and eventually reunited with extended family members.

All of them were from the Highland Park area except for Mr Toledo-Zaragoza, who was visiting family in the city from Morelos, Mexico.

The violence focused attention on Highland Park’s 2013 ban on semi-automatic weapons and large-capacity magazines.

Illinois officials have long contended that legal and illegal weapons are easily purchased in surrounding states, hampering even the toughest local laws’ effectiveness.

Authorities said that Crimo, a resident of nearby Highwood, legally purchased the rifle. But he first applied for a state gun licence in 2019 when he was 19, too young to apply independently in Illinois.

His father sponsored the application, though police reports show that months earlier a relative reported to police that Crimo III had threatened to “kill everyone” and had made several threats to kill himself.

Prosecutors initially charged the father, Robert Crimo Jr, with seven felony counts of reckless conduct and he pleaded guilty in November to seven misdemeanour counts of reckless conduct.

He was sentenced to 60 days in jail and released early for good behaviour.