The accused shooter in Chicago’s Highland Park Fourth of July parade attack has pleaded “not guilty” on all 117 felony counts of murder, attempted murder and aggravated battery.
One week after being indicted, alleged shooter, 21-year-old Robert Crimo III was arraigned Wednesday at the Lake County Courthouse in Waukegan, Illinois with a public defender by his side, according to NBC News 5 Chicago and other local media.
Crimo confessed in detail to the shooting nearly four hours after the attack, when he was arrested in North Chicago.
Jewish Death Toll in Highland Park Mass Shooting Rises to 4
He allegedly killed seven people — among them four Jews — and wounded more than 40 others in an attack he planned for weeks, or months.
The shooting took place just two blocks away from The Central Avenue Synagogue, a popular Chabad-Lubavitch synagogue in the neighborhood. Highland Park is located about 25 miles north of Chicago, on Lake Michigan. It’s considered one of Chicago’s most Jewish suburbs; a beautiful, affluent suburb with a low crime rate.
Attorneys agreed to return for a case management conference scheduled for November 1.
If convicted on the charges of first-degree murder, the suspect faces life in prison without parole. According to prosecutors, an additional 25 years would be added if he is convicted of discharging a weapon, which would be served consecutively.
