Highland Park shooting suspect makes brief court appearance

The Highwood man accused of killing seven people and injuring dozens more during Highland Park’s 2022 Independence Day parade appeared briefly in a Lake County courtroom Wednesday.

Lake County Judge Victoria Rossetti set Robert Crimo III’s next hearing for Aug. 28, by which time prosecutors and defense attorneys said they will file pretrial motions. The suspect is scheduled to face trial in February 2025.

The 23-year-old is charged with opening fire from a downtown Highland Park rooftop about 10:15 a.m. July 4, 2022, killing Highland Park residents Katherine Goldstein, 64; Stephen Straus, 88; Jacquelyn “Jacki” Sundheim, 63; and Kevin McCarthy, 37, and his wife Irina McCarthy, 35. Nicolas Toledo-Zaragoza, 78, of Morelos, Mexico, and Eduardo Uvaldo, 69, of Waukegan also were killed in the attack.

Nearly 50 people, ranging in age from 8 to 88, were wounded.

The defendant has pleaded not guilty to the charges. If convicted of two or more counts of first-degree murder, he faces mandatory life in prison.

He remains incarcerated at the Lake County jail.