Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering spoke with NBC Chicago’s JC Navarrete following the parade shooter’s sentencing Thursday.
“Hearing the individual impacts, almost like puzzle pieces being placed all together, and getting a better understanding of the devastation, the horrific planning, the evil that came on July 4, 2022,” Rotering said. “And now the sentencing, while fair, I can’t say that it provides closure.”
The shooter, Robert Crimo III, had previously not shown up in court, but was there today with a shocking demand.
It was only during Judge Victoria Rossetti’s statements regarding the sentence that a note was handed to the judge indicating that Crimo might want to address the court.
According to the judge, Crimo had threatened to come to the hearing unless he was given back a number of books that had been confiscated from him, including a copy of the Quran. Defense attorneys described the confiscation as a “misunderstanding,” and the judge pledged the books would be returned, allowing the hearing to continue without Crimo appearing in the courtroom.
Before the interruption, Crimo had been sentenced to seven consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole, one for each of the seven victims he pleaded guilty to killing in the July 4 mass shooting. He was also sentenced to 50 years for each count of attempted murder in the case, with all 48 sentences to be served concurrently.
When asked about his interruption, Rotering said survivors said he is just “being who he is.”
Several of the victim statements in court Thursday mentioned the shooter being “irrelevant” as many survivors and next of kin are no longer thinking about him, but rather about their journey forward.
“It was incredibly inspiring just to watch people tell their stories, telling what has happened since,” Rotering said. “It doesn’t mitigate the heartbreak, it doesn’t mitigate the loss, but it also shows the incredible strength of each of these individuals, families and our community at large.”
Rotering said since the shooting, the hardest part has been the loss of lives.
“Each of these people touched so many lives,” Rotering said. “In the immediate aftermath, we stood on the street corner and hugged each other. That was the best we could do. Now, as we’ve seen what has come afterwards, and what continues for a lot of people, that heartbreak isn’t going to go away.”
So what lies ahead for the Highland Park community? Rotering said she’s received questions about what will happen this year on the Fourth of July, and she isn’t sure yet.
“We left part of it open ended because we wanted to hear from them. We wanted this to be complete,” Rotering said. “And we’ll talk to them obviously in the next few weeks.”
Rotering said the community is continuing to build off its strength.
“We’re ready to stand with everyone whose been through this horror,” Rotering said.