The Chicago Parade Shooting Trial begins for Crimo

Waukegan, Ill. –

The man who is accused of having opened the fire on a suburb parade in Chicago Independence Day and killing seven people almost three years after the attack is about to be on trial.

The jury's selection begins on Monday after several delays. One reason for the reason is the irregular behavior of the accused Robert Crimo III, who has raised questions about what can be expected in court.

Video above: Mahnwache for the shootout on July 4, Parade victims held

The attack

The authorities claim that a shooting man is gathered on a roof on people at the fourth of July in the Downtown Highland Park, a sophisticated suburb of 30 miles from Chicago.

Seven people were killed in the 2022 shootings, including both parents of a toddler. Dozens of others were wounded. They ranged from the 80s to an 8-year-old boy at the time, who was partly paralyzed.

Witnesses described confusion as shots came out, followed by terror when the families left the parade route duties and ramp chairs and strollers to find safety in houses and companies.

The city leaders deployed the parade the following year, but reset them in 2024 with a monument to the victims.

Mayor Nancy Rotering said that the city does not want to be defined by the mass shooting. This month she announced that the parade will return in July, but without fireworks, partly because of “community trauma”.

“This year's parade topic reminds us that teams bring people together to support a common goal and that we are most resilient when we support each other,” said Ring.

Killed in the shootout: Katherine Goldstein, 64; Jacquelyn Sundheim, 63; Stephen Straus, 88; Nicolas Toledo-Zaragoza, 78; Eduardo Uvaldo, 69; and married couple Kevin McCarthy (37) and Irina McCarthy, 35.

The case

Crimo stands in front of 21 murder cases of first degree three counts for every person killed personally, 48 cases of murder attempts and 48 cases of heavy battery.

The prosecutors have turned around 10,000 pages as well as hours of a video taped survey, in which the police say that Crimo has been the shootout. But the 24-year-old crimo has not guilty since then and has been rejected by a plea.

Court proceedings have made parts of the survey public, and defenders unsuccessfully tried to interpret the videos because the rights of Crim were violated.

Videos show that officers repeat crimo whether he understood his Miranda rights, including the right, to be silent and to have a lawyer present.

“I heard her millions of times,” said Crimo once.

The prosecutors also showed film material from a person who was dressed in women's clothing and identified by the police when Crimo went to the parade route on the morning of July 4, 2022.

Something that could also harm the defense is the unpredictable behavior of Crim in court.

He did not show up two earlier court hearings and refused to leave his prison cell of Lake County. And in June 2024, when he was expected to accept a plea and giving the victims and relatives the opportunity to speak to him publicly, he came to court in a wheelchair and declined the deal, even surprising his lawyers. He also fired his public defenders and said that he would represent himself and then vice versa.

“Everything could happen at this point,” said Eric Johnson, a legal professor at the University of Illinois.

The defenders of Crimo and the public prosecutor's office in Lake County repeatedly rejected a comment before the trial.

The family

Crimo's father, Robert Crimo Jr., said in 2023 to pass seven offenses from ruthless behaviors. The charges focused on how his son received an armory license.

In 2019, at the age of 19, Crimo III was only allowed to apply for a weapon license with the sponsorship of a parent or legal guardian. His father agreed, although a relative of the police had reported that his son had a collection of knives and threatened to “kill everyone”.

Crimo Jr., a former mayor candidate and former owner of a Deli, who has now been closed, took part in his son's court hearings and made eye contact with him during the hearings. He refused to discuss the case in detail.

“As a parent, I love my son very much and Bobby loves this country more than any other,” he said during a telephone interview. “I have no further comment.”

The jury

Potential jurors are expected in the courthouse in Waukegan on Monday for one who expect lawyers as a month. However, the top -class case could make the efforts to find a jury.

Survivors and their families have submitted several lawsuits, including the manufacturer of the semi -automatic rifle, which is initiated by the shootout and against the authorities who are accused of negligence.

Those who spoke rejected the interviews before the process. Some are expected to testify together with the police and a former school resource officer who came across crimo during the middle and upper level.

Experts say that lawyers with additional care have to turn to the selection of jurors.

“There is information that is out there,” said Alan Tuerkheimer, who consults lawyers about the jury's strategy, but is not involved in the process. “This is the kind of things that affected people in the community.”