'Evil And Manipulative' Bobby Crimo Backs Out Of Plea Deal In Highland Park Shooting

WAUKEGAN, IL — In a last-minute reversal, the man charged with killing seven people and wounding 48 others at Highland Park's 4th of July parade backed out of a plea deal with prosecutors Wednesday morning.

Family members of the seven slain paradegoers — Katie Goldstein, Irina McCarthy, Kevin McCarthy, Stephen Straus, Jacki Sundheim, Nicolás Toledo and Eduardo Uvaldo — as well as some of those injured when a gunman opened fire from a rooftop gathered Wednesday at the Lake County Courthouse in Waukegan.

It had been been expected to be a change of plea hearing for the 23-year-old Highwood man who has been awaiting trial at Lake County Jail since his capture on the evening of the shooting.

“He is evil and manipulative and brought us here today probably knowing what he was going to do," said Leah Sundheim, Jacki's daughter. "I think he has very little control and he will exercise every bit he has and does not care who he hurts.”

Robert E. “Bobby” Crimo III was expected t0 a negotiated plea of guilty to one count for each of the 55 victims named in his 117-count indictment.

Crimo would have served a mandatory life sentence for seven counts of first-degree murder as well as consecutive 30-year sentences for aggravated battery with a firearm to each surviving victim, according to Assistant State's Attorney Ben Dillon.

Lake County Circuit Judge Victoria Rossetti first asked Crimo if the plea that Dillon described was the one he negotiated with prosecutors. Crimo initially did not respond.

After conferring with his public defenders during a brief recess, deputies wheeled Crimo back into the courtroom. This was the first time he had appeared in court from a wheelchair. Deputies said he told them he was unable to walk.

"Do you wish to go forward?" Rossetti asked him.

"No," Crimo said.

The judge then announced the case is still scheduled to go to trial in February 2025, with the next case management conference set for August.

"All I wanted was to be able to fully grieve my mother without the looming trial, knowing that he was going to spend the rest of his life in jail," Sundheim said.

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"Instead, we were yet again shown his complete and blatant disregard for humans, for anyone, for all of us in that courtroom," she said. "We now get to sit and wait weeks and months for hearings and unknowns that we just have to live with until, hopefully, in February.”

About 50 victims and their families had come to Waukegan after the Lake County State's Attorney's Office notified them that Crimo had accepted a guilty plea, with some expecting to give victim impact statements at the hearing.

“We knew this could happen, but we were hoping for the best," said Karina Mendez, daughter of Uvaldo.

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"My dad was somebody who always said, if we did something, we should say we did it and be accountable for what we do," Mendez said.

"I know he’s up there looking at us, telling us right now just to be patient and to let the court system do what they have to do," she said. "My dad was somebody who loved his family and we’ve stuck together through all this, and we’re going to keep sticking together and being there for each other through this whole trial.”

Crimo's latest courtroom reversal is not his first since his indictment. In December, he fired his public defenders and invoked his right to a speedy trial. He later changed his mind and asked to have free representation again.

After the plea was rejected, prosecutors met privately with the gathered victims in the courtroom, while attorneys representing some of the victims and survivors in civil litigation against Crimo and the firearm industry convened a news conference outside the courthouse.

Lance Northcutt, one of the attorneys for the family of Aiden McCarthy, who was orphaned when both his parents were fatally shot at the parade, said he believed Crimo had come to court with the intention of continuing the terror that began nearly two years ago.

"What happened today," Northcutt said, "make no mistake, was nothing more than a revictimization of that family and every family that has endured this tragedy.”

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After firing more than 80 bullets from a semiautomatic rifle, Crimo dropped the murder weapon as he fled to his mother's house, where he picked up another rifle, put it in her Honda Fit, drove to the Madison, Wisconsin, area and buried his cell phone there, authorities said.

Prior to the shooting, Crimo, an aspiring musician and Highland Park High School dropout, released a series of videos prior to the massacre containing violent themes, including images suggestive of a school shooting and a video depicting Highland Park's parade route.

Last September, Rossetti revoked Crimo's access to phones, tablets, and the internet after jailhouse video and audio recordings of Crimo describing government involvement in the shooting were posted online by a conspiracy theorist who described herself as a longtime friend of his. That order was partially rescinded last month, allowing him to have phone contact with his immediate family.

Lake County State's Attorney Eric Rinehart made a brief statement to the media and did not take any questions after the hearing.

"We have been working with the victims and survivors, supporting the victims and survivors over the last several days and weeks preparing for today," Rinehart said, pledging that his office would continue to support the families and be ready for trial next year.

"Our trial team and our team of victim support professionals met with them for as long as they needed to in the courtroom," he said. "That was an unusual procedure, but necessary in light of what happened today."

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Earlier: Accused Highland Park Mass Shooter Bobby Crimo Expected To Plead Guilty