Robert Crimo, the suspect in the mass shooting at an Independence Day parade in Highland Park, Illinois, is expected to appear in court on Wednesday, a day after he was charged with seven counts of first-degree murder.
If convicted, he will face life in prison without the possibility of parole, said Illinois state attorney Eric Reinhart. The prosecutors will ask a judge to deny bail, reported CNN.
According to the police, Mr Crimo had planned an attack for weeks and fired more than 70 rounds randomly into the crowd watching the parade, killing seven and injuring more than three dozen people.
He had his first encounter with the police in April 2019, when the authorities received a 911 call reporting an attempted suicide, said Lake County Sheriff deputy chief Christopher Covelli on Tuesday. In September that year police were again called regarding alleged threats “to kill everyone” that he had directed at family members, though they did not arrest him.
The names of six of the seven victims have been released: Katherine Goldstein, 64, Irina McCarthy, 35, Kevin McCarthy, 37, Jacquelyn Sundheim, 63, Stephen Strauss, 88, and Nicolas Toledo-Zaragoza, 78.