LAKE COUNTY, Ill. — A grand jury on Wednesday indicted the man accused of opening fire on a crowd gathered for an Independence Day parade in suburban Chicago, killing seven people and wounding dozens of others, on more than 115 charges, including 21 counts of first-degree murder, prosecutors said.
Earlier, authorities said they had filed seven murder charges against Robert E. Crimo III, 21, in connection to the mass shooting during the parade in Highland Park. On Wednesday, the Lake County State’s attorney’s Office presented evidence to a grand jury to indict Crimo on 117 counts, officials said.
The grand jury returned indictments on all charges.
Crimo is facing 21 counts of first-degree murder – three counts for each slain victim – 48 counts of attempted murder and 48 counts of aggravated battery with a firearm, officials said. The charges account for “each victim who was struck by a bullet, bullet fragment, or shrapnel,” prosecutors said.
Previously, prosecutors said that Crimo carried out a “pre-meditated and calculated attack” as revelers gathered for Fourth of July festivities in Highland Park. The shooting claimed the lives of 88-year-old Stephen Straus, 78-year-old Nicolas Toledo-Zaragoza, 69-year-old Eduardo Uvaldo, 64-year-old Katherine Goldstein, 63-year-old Jacquelyn “Jacki” Sundheim, 37-year-old Kevin McCarthy and 35-year-old Irena McCarthy.
Authorities have said the wounded range in age from 8 to in their 80s, including an 8-year-old boy who was paralyzed from the waist down when the shooting severed his spine.
Investigators believe the accused gunman blended in with the fleeing crowd to get away from the scene, then borrowed his mother’s car and briefly contemplated a second attack on a celebration in Madison, Wisconsin, before returning to Illinois where police arrested him.
In a statement released Wednesday, State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart said officials continue to investigate.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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