HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. (AP) — Memorial services and funerals for three of the seven people killed when a gunman opened fire on a July Fourth parade in Highland Park are scheduled for Friday, the first formal opportunity to grieve the deaths of two beloved grandfathers and a former synagogue preschool teacher who were fatally shot.
Services are scheduled for 63-year-old Jacquelyn Sundheim, 88-year-old Stephen Straus and 78-year-old Nicolas Toledo-Zaragoza.
Robert E. Crimo III, the accused 21-year-old gunman, was charged Wednesday with seven counts of first-degree murder in the attack Monday morning. Prosecutors have said they also expect to bring attempted murder charges against him; More than 30 people were wounded in the attack in the affluent northern Chicago suburb that is home to about 30,000 people near the Lake Michigan shore.
Services for another victim, 69-year-old Eduardo Uvaldo, are scheduled for Saturday.
Details about the remaining victims have not been made public. Authorities have identified them as 35-year-old Irina McCarthy and 37-year-old Kevin McCarthy who were attending the parade with their two-year-old son, and 64-year-old Katherine Goldstein, a mother of two.
Investigators have said the accused shooter, who lived in neighboring Highwood, legally purchased five weapons and planned the violent attack for weeks before he climbed to the roof of a business along the parade route and opened fire with a semi-automatic rifle.
Investigators reported that Crimo fled the parade by blending in with the crowd, then drove to the Madison, Wisconsin, area where he contemplated a second attack before returning to the Highland Park area where his car was spotted by police.
Questions remain about whether Crimo should have been able to legally purchase firearms in Illinois. Illinois State Police officials have defended the approval of his gun license in December 2019, months after police received reports that he had made suicidal and violent threats.
