The author of the massacre near Chicago that killed seven people and injured more than 30 during the celebrations of the US national holiday in early July, was charged Wednesday with 117 counts, announced the prosecutor in charge of the case.
Robert Crimo, 21, fired a semi-automatic rifle into the crowd from the roof of a business as the 4th of July parade had just started in Highland Park, a posh suburb of Chicago, Illinois.
The attack, preceded by several killings in previous months, including that of 19 children and two teachers in a Texas school, or that of ten African-Americans in a supermarket in the state of New York, had once again shocked ‘America’.
“Our investigation continues”
The charges upheld by a grand jury Wednesday include 21 counts of murder (three for each person killed), 48 counts of attempted murder and 48 counts of aggravated violence involving the use of a firearm, or “one count for each victim struck by a bullet or a bullet fragment,” details the press release by prosecutor Eric Rinehart.
“Our investigation continues,” he said, noting that authorities “are working day and night to help those who have been affected by this crime.”
Robert Crimo will appear on August 3 to be notified of the charges against him, and not on July 28 as previously announced.
Source: BFM TV
