(26 Jun 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Waukegan, Illinois – 26 June 2024
1. Various of lawyers and families of victims walking out of Lake County courthouse
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Tony Romanucci, Attorney for victims’ families:
“Today you saw absolute unadulterated evil. And that’s what the Surgeon General yesterday said, we have a national health crisis of guns in this country. And that’s what happens when you unlawfully place a gun in evil’s hand. You are going to get a reign of terror.”
3. Wide of Lake County courthouse
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Tony Romanucci, Attorney for victims’ families:
“In the meantime, we must ensure that weapons do not get in the hands of people who aren’t never supposed to have them. This was an unlawful placement of a weapon in someone’s hands who never, ever should have had it.”
++BLACK FRAMES++
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Leah Sundheim, daughter of shooting victim Jacquelyn Sundheim:
“We came to court today in hopes that we could put this out of our mind. We have 4th of July coming up and it will be two years, and all I wanted was to be able to fully grieve my mom, without the looming trial, knowing that he was going to spend the rest of his life in jail. And instead, we were yet again shown his complete and blatant disregard for humans, for anyone, for all of us in that courtroom. Instead, we now get to sit and wait weeks and months of more hearings and, and unknowns that we just have to live with until hopefully in February (of 2025).”
++BLACK FRAMES++
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Karina Menendez, daughter of shooting victim Eduardo Uvaldo:
“It’s hard, it’s hard, just to come in here and see the person that took my dad. It’s not something that you want to do. You know, you don’t take it lightly.”
++BLACK FRAMES++
7. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Maria Valdez, Widow of victim Eduardo Uvaldo:
“I don’t have words (to describe how to feel) (inaudible)”
++BLACK FRAMES++
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Eric Rinehart, Lake County State Attorney:
“There is a trial scheduled in February of 2025. We cannot answer any other questions at this time. We have been working with the victims and survivors, supporting the victims and survivors over the last several days and weeks, preparing for today. Our trial team and our team of victim support professionals met with them, for as long as they needed to in the courtroom. That was an unusual procedure, but necessary in light of what happened today.”
++ENDS ON SOUNDBITE++
STORYLINE:
The man accused of opening fire at an Independence Day parade in suburban Chicago in 2022 has rejected a deal requiring him to plead guilty to seven charges of murder in the attack.
Twenty-three-year-old Robert E. Crimo III on Wednesday rejected the deal that prosecutors said would have come with a life sentence. Crimo’s public defenders left court without speaking with reporters. The attack killed seven people and wounded more than 40.
Family members of people killed said they hoped Wednesday would bring some closure ahead of the Fourth of July holiday. Instead, they plan to refocus on a trial, which is set for February.
AP video by Melissa Winder
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