They Weren't Able to Confront Parade Shooter as Planned

Wednesday was to be the day that survivors, victims' relatives, first responders, and witnesses got to address the July 4 Highland Park parade shooter in court. They were denied that chance, reports NBC News. Robert "Bobby" E. Crimo III pleaded guilty last month to murder and other charges in the 2022 shooting that killed seven people and wounded nearly 50 at a parade some 30 miles from Chicago. The AP reports he is expected to spend the rest of his life in prison but opted not to attend his sentencing hearing or watch it from jail, Lake County State's Attorney Eric Rinehart told the court. Sentencing, and those victim impact statements, are proceeding without him.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports Dana Ruder Ring testified she was hit with shrapnel in her foot while fleeing the gunshots with her husband and three children. They entered an underground parking garage, where a woman handed them a blood-covered child who did not belong to her. Ruder Ring recounted looking for the boy's parents while passing "bodies still smoking on the ground. She said the boy could not tell her his name, but kept saying, "Mom and dad are going to come get me soon?" His parents, Kevin McCarthy, 37, and Irina McCarthy, 35, ended up being among the dead. (More Highland Park mass shooting stories.)