Robert Crimo makes first court appearance as prosecutor says he confessed to Highland Park shooting

The man accused of murdering seven parade-goers in a mass shooting at a July 4 celebration in Highland Park appeared in court for the first time where prosecutors revealed he had confessed to carrying out the massacre and contemplated carrying out a second attack while dressed in disguise as a woman.

Robert Crimo appeared for a bond hearing in the 19th Circuit Court in Lake County, Illinois, on Wednesday morning via Zoom just hours after a grandfather who attended the parade with his family died from his injuries.

Dressed in a black t-shirt and his long dark hair down around his face, he stared expressionless into the camera as the judge ordered that he be held without bond.

The 21-year-old was charged with seven counts of first-degree murder on Tuesday and faces life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted.

He is scheduled to appear in court next on 28 July.

Lake County State Attorney Eric Rinehart said that they are just the first “of many charges” he plans to bring against the alleged mass murderer in the coming days.

During Wednesday’s hearing, Prosecutor Ben Dillon told the court that Mr Crimo had confessed to carrying out the mass shooting and had identified himself in surveillance footage running from the attack dressed in women’s clothing.

The suspect told police that he covered his tattoos with make-up and dressed in women’s clothing to avoid being recognised in the aftermath of the shooting, he said.

After scaling the roof of a nearby building, he then “looked down his sights, aimed and opened fire” on parade-goers below.

The court then heard how Mr Crimo fired two full magazines of 30 rounds and then reloaded the rifle again.

A total of 83 shell casings were recovered from the scene.

Following the shooting, Mr Crimo was captured on surveillance running through the crowds fleeing the scene with a black bag over his shoulder, said the prosecutor.

As he ran, an object wrapped in cloth fell onto the ground and Mr Crimo kept on running, he said.

The object was identified as the AR-15-style rifle used in the attack.

In the court hearing, a commotion broke out at one point over whether the suspected mass murderer had an attorney or not.

Mr Crimo told the judge that he did not have an attorney and he was given time to speak in private with a public defender.

When they returned to the hearing, the public defender said that he was in contact with attorney Thomas Durkin who had announced on Tuesday that he had been hired by Mr Crimo’s family to represent him. Mr Durkin appeared to have struggled to access the remote hearing.

He joined later and said that he had learned of a conflict of interest he had with the case and so was no longer representing Mr Crimo.

Mr Crimo’s parents meanwhile have hired a high-profile attorney who previously worked with R Kelly to represent themselves as they released a statement saying it was a “terrible tragedy”.

In a press conference outside the court, Lake County Sheriff’s Office Sgt Christopher Covelli revealed that Mr Crimo considered carrying out a second attack at an event in Madison, Wisconsin.

After allegedly gunning down dozens in Highland Park, Mr Crimo crossed state lines from Illinois to Wisconsin, driving all the way to Madison in his mother’s vehicle, officials said.

There, he planned to carry out a second attack at another event but, for some unknown reason, changed his mind and drove back to Illinois.

“Investigators did develop some information that it appears when he drove to Madison, he was driving around, however, he did see a celebration that was occurring in Madison, and he seriously contemplated using the firearm he had in his vehicle to commit another shooting in Madison,” he said.

“Indications are that he hadn’t put enough thought or research into it.”

Sgt Covelli said that the idea for the second attack did not appear to have been organised in advance but that it appears the suspect was “driving around following the first attack and saw the celebration”.

Mr Crimo was arrested on Monday evening – around eight hours on from the shooting – along a highway just five miles from the location of the July 4 parade in Highland Park.

Inside the vehicle was a second high-powered rifle with 60 rounds of ammunition, officials said.

The rifle used in the Highland Park shooting – identified as a Smith & Wesson M&P 15 – had been dropped at the scene by the shooter as he fled the area, said investigators.

As well as these two high-powered rifles, a search of Mr Crimo’s home also uncovered at least three more firearms including pistols.

The motive for the attack is still unknown.

The new details came as the seventh victim was named as grandfather Eduardo Uvaldo, who died from his injuries on Wednesday morning.

Mr Uvaldo went to the July 4 parade in Highland Park with several family members and was shot in the arm and the back of the head in the attack.

His granddaughter Nivia Guzman wrote on a heartbreaking GoFundMe page on Tuesday that doctors had told the family there was no longer anything they could do for Mr Uvaldo, who she affectionately referred to as “papi”.

Hours later, she said that they had been left with no choice but to turn off his ventilator.

Ms Guzman said that her brother and grandmother were also shot in the attack but survived.

There had been some confusion as to whether Mr Uvaldo was the seventh previously unnamed victim – or a new victim.

On Tuesday afternoon, Lake County Coroner Jennifer Banek said that a seventh victim who had been hospitalised in a neighbouring county had also died but that their identity was not known at that time.

That evening, Lake County State Attorney Eric Rinehart announced that suspected killer Robert Crimo had been charged with seven counts of first-degree murder.

At that point, Mr Uvaldo was still alive but his family had been told by doctors there was nothing they could do.

The 69-year-old died on Wednesday morning, with his death announced by the Cook County Medical Examiner.

This initially sparked confusion that an eighth victim had succumbed to their injuries.

Steven Spagnolo, spokesperson for the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office, later confirmed to The Independent on Wednesday that Mr Uvaldo is the seventh victim named on the indictment.

He said that there had been some confusion around the release of the seventh victim’s name.

The six other victims were identified on Tuesday as: Katherine Goldstein, 64 of Highland Park, Irina McCarthy, 35 of Highland Park, Kevin McCarthy, 37 of Highland Park, Jacquelyn Sundheim, 63 of Highland Park, Stephen Straus, 88 of Highland Park and Nicolas Toledo-Zaragoza, 78 of Morelos, Mexico.

Irina and Kevin McCarthy were a married couple and parents to a two-year-old boy Aiden who was separated from his parents in the chaos and was cared for by strangers until officials could reunite him with his grandparents.

A GoFundMe set up to raise money for the little boy speaks of the “unthinkable position” Aiden is now in having to “navigate life as an orphan”.

Nicholas Toledo, a 78-year-old grandfather and father of dual US and Mexico nationality, used a wheelchair and was sitting in it watching the parade with his family when he was struck by bullets.

Jacki Sundheim was remembered by local synagogue North Shore Congregation Israel as a “lifelong” congregant and “cherished” staffer whose “work, kindness and warmth touched us all”. She leaves behind a husband and daughter.

Katherine Goldstein, who was known as Katie, was shot and killed at the Highland Park parade as she and her daughter Cassie Goldstein were desperately running away from the gunfire.

As well as the deceased, officials said more than 30 people were also injured in the attack.

Investigators announced on Tuesday that Mr Crimo had been planning the attack at the July 4 parade for “several weeks” and had amassed a trove of around five firearms.

His parents broke their silence on Tuesday night in a statement where they offered “thoughts and prayers” to the victims of the attack which has left at least seven dead and dozens more injured.

“We are all mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, and this is a terrible tragedy for many families, the victims, the paradegoers, the community, and our own,” Bob and Denise Crimo said in a statement through their attorney Steve Greenberg.

“Our hearts, thoughts and prayers go out to everybody,” they said, requesting privacy “as they try to sort through” the shooting.

The statement came after it emerged that Mr Crimo’s father – who unsuccessfully ran for mayor of Highland Park against current Mayor Nancy Rotering – sponsored his son’s application for his first firearm permit just three months after the then-20-year-old threatened to kill his family.

Officials revealed in a press conference on Tuesday afternoon that law enforcement were called to his home for two incidents involving the suspect in 2019.

In April 2019, Highland Park Police were called to the home to a report that Mr Crimo had tried to kill himself around one week earlier.

Officers responded to the address and spoke to Mr Crimo and his parents, before referring the incident to mental health professionals.

“The matter was being handled by mental health professionals at that time. There was no law enforcement action to be taken. It was a mental health issue handled by those professionals,” said Sgt Covelli.

Five months later – in September 2019 – police were called to a report from a family member that Mr Crimo had vowed to “kill everyone” inside the home with a “collection of knives”.

Officers responded to the scene and found Mr Crimo had 16 knives, a dagger and a sword.

The knives were confiscated but officers did not arrest the suspect because no complaint was made by the alleged victims.

But, Mr Crimo’s father later said the knives belonged to him and they were returned to them.

Just three months after family members reported their son for allegedly threatening to kill them, Mr Crimo applied for his first Firearm Owners Identification (FOID) card.

Because he was under the age of 21 at the time, his father sponsored the application and it was approved one month later in January 2020.

Since then, he has legally purchased at least four more firearms in the state of Illinois.

Officials are now facing questions about how he was able to legally attain multiple firearms given his prior interactions with law enforcement and his disturbing online presence.

It has since emerged that Mr Crimo posted several disturbing videos and posts glorifying violence, firearms and mass shootings online prior to the attack.

The massacre has once again renewed calls for tighter gun control measures coming in the wake of a string of mass shootings that have torn apart families and communities across the country.

Back in May, 21 students and teachers were murdered in a mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, and 10 Black people were shot dead in a racist attack in Buffalo, New York.

President Joe Biden lowered the flags at half staff on Tuesday in honour of the Highland Park victims and said that it showed there was “much more work to do” to tackle America’sgun violence.