Highland Park shooter Robert Crimo III to be sentenced Wednesday
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(HIGHLAND PARK, Ill.) — Robert Crimo III, the gunman who killed seven people and injured dozens in a mass shooting in Highland Park, Illinois, on July 4, 2022, will be sentenced on Wednesday after pleading guilty in March.
Survivors and relatives of those killed in the shooting at the Independence Day parade are expected to address Crimo at the sentencing hearing, according to The Associated Press.
In March, Crimo pleaded guilty to 21 counts of first-degree murder, three counts for each person killed, and dozens of attempted murder charges, according to Chicago ABC station WLS.
Survivor Ashbey Beasley, who fled the parade with her son when the gunfire broke out, said in March the plea brought an “immense amount of relief.”
“Every single time I see [Crimo], it’s stressful,” she told reporters back in March. “I think it’s upsetting for everyone…Just knowing that his plea has been entered and we will not have to see him again is what we all need.”
Crimo appeared ready to accept a guilty plea last June during a hearing, only to reject the deal in front of devastated members of the victims’ families. He was expected to plead guilty to seven counts of murder and 48 counts of aggravated battery with a firearm at the hearing at the time, according to the AP.
“We have Fourth of July coming up and it will be two years,” Leah Sundheim, whose mother, Jacquelyn Sundheim, was killed in the shooting, said at a news conference at the time. “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 [Crimo’s] complete and blatant disregard for humans.”
Crimo told police he wore women’s clothing during the shooting and used makeup to hide his facial tattoos and blend in with the crowd during the chaos, prosecutors said. Crimo was apprehended hours later and prosecutors said he confessed to the shooting.
Crimo’s father, Robert Crimo Jr., pleaded guilty last year to reckless conduct, admitting to signing the Firearm Owner’s Identification card for his son to apply for gun ownership.
The younger Crimo was 19 at the time and too young to get a FOID card on his own. Illinois at the time required people ages 18, 19 or 20 to have parent or guardian authorization.
(ANN ARBOR, MI) — One of the alleged victims in a widespread hacking scandal involving a former University of Michigan football coach said she feels “betrayed” by the school and is fearful that her personal information was further leaked online.
The woman is one of two anonymous plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit filed a day after the Department of Justice announced Matthew Weiss had been indicted on two dozen federal charges alleging he hacked into thousands of athlete and alumni accounts and downloaded private data, including intimate photos, over eight years.
“It never would have crossed my mind that I could have been involved, and that’s, I think, why there’s so much outrage on our end,” the woman, a former University of Michigan female athlete, told “Good Morning America.”
The Jane Doe said she was at the University of Michigan for six years as a student and employee and does not know Weiss.
“I’ve been a fan of the university my entire life,” she said. “To know that I put so much trust and so much faith into that institution, and they have betrayed me in such a significant way — I mean, it’s terrifying.”
Citing the allegations in the indictment against Weiss, the lawsuit claimed that Weiss was able to gain unauthorized access to the student-athlete databases of more than 100 colleges and universities maintained by Keffer Development Services, LLC, a Pennsylvania-based company, and downloaded the personally identifiable information and medical data of over 150,000 athletes.
The former coach is then accused of unlawfully gaining access to the social media, email and/or cloud storage accounts of more than 3,300 people, including the two plaintiffs, and then downloading personal, intimate photos and videos. Weiss primarily targeted female college athletes, the indictment alleged.
“I don’t think there’s really any way to know exactly what information of mine is out there,” the Jane Doe said. “It’s kind of one of those things that you can’t really shut off.”
Weiss is among the defendants in the lawsuit. ABC News has reached out to his attorney for comment on the lawsuit and federal charges and has not gotten a response.
The University of Michigan and the Regents of the University of Michigan are also named as defendants in the lawsuit, which alleged that as a result of their “recklessness and negligence,” Weiss downloaded the women’s “personal, intimate digital photographs and videos.”
“I obviously am afraid of an individual that’s capable of doing something like this, but I’m possibly more afraid of a university that has the opportunity to prevent it from happening and doesn’t,” the Jane Doe said.
In response to the lawsuit, Kay Jarvis, the director of public affairs for the University of Michigan, said in a statement to ABC News, “We have not been served with the complaint and cannot comment on pending litigation.”
Keffer is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit, which claimed that the company’s alleged “misconduct, negligence, and recklessness also contributed to Weiss invading the privacy of Plaintiffs and their fellow student athletes.” ABC News has reached out to the company for comment and has not gotten a response.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the two plaintiffs and as a potential class action on behalf of other alleged victims. The number of potential class members is unclear but is estimated to exceed 1,000, the lawsuit stated.
Parker Stinar, a managing partner with the Chicago-based firm Stinar Gould Grieco & Hensley who filed the lawsuit on behalf of the plaintiffs, said he hopes to find out more about what happened to the alleged victims’ information and “to better understand how the university failed these individuals and to hold them accountable.”
“We’re talking about the University of Michigan, one of the largest, most powerful and respected academic institutions in the world, that allowed this to take place by one of their employees,” Stinar told “Good Morning America.”
Stinar said this “isn’t the first time that we have seen the University of Michigan fail their alumni and their athletes,” pointing to the case of the late Dr. Robert Anderson, who served as the school’s sports team physician for decades and was accused of molesting or sexually abusing more than 1,000 victims. In 2022, the university reached a $490 million settlement in connection with the allegations.
“We’re seeing it again, where the university has failed to protect those that give their blood, sweat and tears to the school,” Stinar said.
Weiss, 42, was arraigned Monday on 14 counts of unauthorized access to computers and 10 counts of aggravated identity theft. A not guilty plea was entered on his behalf, The Associated Press reported. His attorney, Douglas Mullkoff, declined to comment to the AP following the proceeding. ABC News also reached out to Mulkoff multiple times, but did not receive a response.
Weiss was released on a $10,000 unsecured bond, ESPN reported.
If convicted, Weiss could face up to five years in prison on each count of unauthorized access and two years on each count of aggravated identity theft, according to the attorney’s office.
(SANFORD, Fla.) — A 17-year-old was arrested on Sunday after posting a video online allegedly plotting a shooting at a high school in Florida, according to the Sanford Police Department.
Officials said they received an anonymous tip on Saturday regarding a “video of an unknown male threatening to shoot up Seminole High School.”
The video “pictured the subject with multiple guns, vests and other items of concern,” authorities said in a statement on Sunday.
Timothy A. Thomas, 17, was ultimately confirmed as the student in the video, police said. Thomas was charged with intimidation through a written or electronic threat of a mass shooting or act of terrorism, police said.
Thomas is a student at Elevation High School, which is approximately 4 miles from Seminole High School. He was found at his residence and “taken into custody without incident,” officials said.
The weapons — which were seized after the teen’s arrest — were “extremely realistic Airsoft replicas,” according to police.
Sanford Chief of Police Cecil Smith applauded the “swift dedication and arrest” of the suspect.
“This fact action and teamwork most likely prevented a tragedy and saved multiple lives,” Smith said in a statement.
Serita Beamon, superintendent of Seminole County Public Schools, said she was “thankful” for law enforcement’s prompt response to the threats.
“The safety of our students and staff is our highest priority, and we will continue to take any potential threat seriously, and act quickly,” Beamon said in a statement.
Anyone with additional information about the incident should reach out to the Sanford Police Department or Crimeline at 800-423-TIPS (8477).
(NEW YORK) — Alleged UnitedHealthcare CEO killer Luigi Mangione is set to return to a New York City courtroom on Friday for a brief appearance in his state murder case.
The afternoon appearance in Manhattan’s State Supreme Court marks Mangione’s first hearing since his arraignment on the state charges in late December 2024, when he appeared in a maroon sweater and pleaded not guilty to murder charges that include an enhancement for terrorism.
There are “very serious issues” with how police in Altoona, Pennsylvania, obtained evidence from the accused United Healthcare CEO killer, his lawyer alleged in court Friday afternoon, even with the small amount of discovery they have received thus far, she said. The “limited” amount will require more time to prepare, she said.
His defense has filed a motion to exclude from trial some of the evidence Altoona police got from Mangione immediately after his arrest.
“We are concerned that Luigi’s constitutional rights were violated in Pennsylvania,” his attorney, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, told reporters outside the courthouse following the hearing, claiming there are “serious search and seizure issues” they will be litigating in his state cases in Pennsylvania and New York as well as his federal case.
“It is alleged that Luigi had a gun on him and had other property on him that they are going to use against him in all of the cases,” she continued. “If there is a search and seizure issue — and again, we have to review all of the paperwork and camera footage when we receive it, before we say definitively whether we think there is one — but so far, what we are seeing is, we think there is a serious search and seizure issue.”
Friedman Agnifilo also said it was “shocking” to see the NYPD’s chief of detectives and New York City Mayor Eric Adams give an interview in a documentary that aired this week “talking about police paperwork” that they had not received until now and “hearing an actor play Luigi, reading from a journal that they say is Luigi’s, and we have yet to receive it from the prosecution.”
“It’s outrageous that they have time to go and prejudice Mr. Mangione’s ability to receive a fair trial and go out and make these statements, but not give this to us,” she said.
Friedman Agnifilo also had a message for Mangione’s supporters, who were gathered outside the Manhattan courthouse on Friday during his court appearance.
“Luigi really wanted to thank the supporters for being here, and we all appreciate it very much,” she said.
A trial date has yet to be set.
Mangione faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole if convicted of the state charges.
He remains in custody at a federal detention center in Brooklyn.
Mangione, 26, also faces federal charges, including one that could yield the death penalty, but he has not yet been indicted by a federal grand jury. His next date in federal court is in mid-March.
The suspect is accused of gunning down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in front of the Hilton in Midtown Manhattan on Dec. 4, 2024, as the CEO headed to an investors conference, in an act that prosecutors said was premeditated, targeted and “intended to evoke terror.”
His defense team has alleged the case was being politicized and has vowed to fight the state and federal charges.
The New York state and federal cases are in addition to the charges brought against Mangione in Pennsylvania, where he was arrested following a dayslong manhunt and faces charges including forgery and possession of an unlicensed firearm.
Mangione made his first formal statement Friday since his arrest on a website launched by his New York defense team, in which he thanked his supporters.
“I am overwhelmed by — and grateful for — everyone who has written me to share their stories and express their support,” he said in the statement. “Powerfully, this support has transcended political, racial, and even class divisions, as mail has flooded MDC from across the country, and around the globe. While it is impossible for me to reply to most letters, please know that I read every one that I receive.”
