Prosecutors say the suspect in the Highland Park parade shooting will change his testimony

The suspect in the Highland Park parade shooting will change his plea next week, just before the second anniversary of the attack that killed seven people and injured 48 others, according to the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office.

Robert E. Crimo III is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday at the Lake County Courthouse in Waukegan, where “a change of plea is expected to be presented to Judge Victoria Rossetti,” according to an email sent by the state attorney’s office Thursday evening. victims and witnesses of the attack.

The email, obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times, did not provide any details about Crimo’s plea or any response to the expected change from the state attorney’s office.

Crimo has been in custody since his arrest hours after the attack during the Fourth of July 2022 parade. He pleaded not guilty in August this year.

Prosecutors, who filed a request Tuesday for a hearing next week, confirmed the expected change in charges but provided little additional information.

“The case will end on June 26 due to a possible change in charges,” Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart said in a statement. “We have been keeping victims informed and supported this week as the situation develops.”

The source said Rinehart and other office workers made direct calls to survivors and injured people. The email obtained by the Sun-Times was sent to a larger group of people at the parade who were directly impacted by the shooting.

Defense attorneys did not return messages seeking comment.

According to Chief Deputy Christopher Covelli, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office plans to have “additional sheriff’s deputies on site that day to maintain order both inside and outside the courtroom.”

The sheriff’s office does not plan to close roads in front of the courthouse, as it did when Crimo was arraigned in August 2022, “but this may change based on information received or developments,” Covelli said in an email Thursday .

Crimo, who was not scheduled to return to court until August, faces 117 charges for allegedly firing an assault rifle from a rooftop overlooking the 2022 Highland Park Fourth of July Parade, killing seven people and wounding 48 others.

The city of Highland Park is preparing to hold its first Fourth of July parade since the shooting.

Crimea

late last year he briefly fired his court-appointed lawyers and demanded a speedy trial. In early January, a few weeks before the trial was to begin, he reappointed his deputy public defenders, and the trial was postponed to February 2025.

Crimo and his father, Robert E. Crimo Jr., also face civil lawsuits from victims of the shootings.

Crimo Jr. served a 60-day prison sentence after pleading guilty in November to misdemeanor reckless conduct for signing an application for his minor son’s gun card even though he knew his son had previously committed murders and had suicidal thoughts.

Robert E. Crimo Jr. he reported to court on the day he was scheduled to begin his prison sentence wearing a T-shirt that read “I’m a political pawn,” prompting a Lake County judge to threaten him with contempt of court if he broke the rules of decency again.

“The principles are non-negotiable,” Justice George Strickland Crimo Jr. said at the time. “Have you read the regulations?”

“No,” Crimo Jr. replied, holding the lectern, his face unshaven and his shoe untied.

“That’s very interesting,” the judge said.