(Washington) The author of the massacre near Chicago which killed seven people and injured more than 30 during celebrations of the American national holiday in early July, was charged on Wednesday with 117 counts, announced the prosecutor responsible for the case.
Posted at 5:42 p.m.
Robert Crimo, 21, fired a semi-automatic rifle into the crowd from the roof of a business as the Fourth of July parade had just started in Highland Park, an upscale suburb of Chicago, in Illinois (central United States).
The attack, preceded by several massacres in previous months, including that of 19 children and two teachers in a school in Texas, or ten African-Americans in a supermarket in New York State, had once again shocked the ‘America.
The charges retained by a grand jury on Wednesday include 21 counts of homicide – three for each person killed -, 48 of attempted murder and 48 of aggravated violence with the use of a firearm, or “one for each victim affected by a bullet or bullet fragment, ”details the press release from prosecutor Eric Rinehart.
“Our investigation is continuing,” he said, noting that authorities “are working day and night to help those 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.
He faces life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted.