Joe Gutman looks up as his wife, Sheila, puts her head on his shoulder during the sentencing hearing for Robert E. Crimo III on Thursday at the Lake County Courthouse in Waukegan. (Photos by Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune via AP, Pool)

Robert Crimo III was sentenced Thursday for the mass shooting at the 2022 Highland Park Independence Day parade.

While a measure of closure was brought to more than 70 victims and family members in attendance, a 30-day window for an appeal of the sentencing, or Crimo withdrawing his guilty plea, still remains.

Lake County Circuit Court Judge Victoria Rossetti sentenced Crimo, 24, to seven consecutive natural life terms – one for each of the seven victims killed.

Forty-eight counts of attempted murder, each carrying a term of 50 years, will run concurrently and consecutively to the natural life terms.

The sentencing hearing began Wednesday in order to allow victims an opportunity for submitting impact and witness statements into the record. The effect was somewhat muted as Crimo did not appear at the defense table on either day.

Rossetti reaffirmed her court ruling that the trial and sentencing would continue whether the defendant was in court or not.

“The defendant was advised Oct.2, 2024 and Oct. 23, 2024 and Nov. 14, 2024 that if he did not appear, the trial would continue in his absence including the sentencing,” she said.

The proceedings were interrupted late Thursday morning as Crimo was evidently making his way to the courtroom to make a statement. During a recess, there was confusion and anticipation exhibited by both the prosecutors and the victims.

Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart addressed the victims, some 50 minutes later, saying, “Good news, good news…he’s not coming…the sentencing will continue.”

The exact nature of the incident was never explained.

Closing arguments asserted that Crimo fired nearly 90 rounds from an AR-15 assault weapon on parade goers from the Ross Drugs rooftop at Central Avenue and Second Street. The attack left seven people dead and more than 40 people injured.

The angst and galvanizing aspect between the victims in comforting each other, while shedding tears,

Members of the Uvaldo family react as Judge Victoria Rossetti sentences Crimo.

became the prominent focus. Amid the testimony Wednesday were stories of permanent injuries, the loss of loved ones, psychological damage, haunting images of carnage and blood, along with a bond brought on through tragedy.

“We have become our own community,” said Staci Skolnick. “We were at Port Clinton Square, it started for me at the parade, bringing my two daughters, and 100 families in the parade…my role as a camp director. This was our own bubble, at first, and it has expanded to a larger bubble.”

Liz Turnipseed, later said, “It’s like being in a club that no one wanted to be part of, in the first place. We’ve become a network, we comfort each other…I still have this cane.”

In the docket, Dana Ruder-Ring told of a bloodied person handing her a bloodied 2-year old child.

“It was like, here,” she said. “We kept asking if he knew his name, and he kept saying ‘Mommy and Daddy will come for me.’ I don’t know.”

Candace Fisher, attended the parade with her husband, Brandon, and their two children.

“You see these shoes? These are my lucky shoes. I wore them for a year afterwards, every day. My 2-year old son was grazed and has a scar, but he won’t remember. My daughter has full-blown PTSD, had bad dreams. She’s starting with a new therapist.”

“We were at Port Clinton Square, and watching this unfold,” she said. “The emotional damage is often worse than the physical damage…and this has damaged her life forever.”

Craig Goldstein, spoke of losing his wife, Katie, in the shooting.

Lake County States Attorney Eric Rinehart speaks with family members and survivors during the sentencing hearing of Crimo.

“We hadn’t spoken in 20 years. I had been through two failed marriages and called her. We were married five months later, and I don’t know what she saw in me…now, she’s gone. I keep thinking, if I wait another 20 years, she’ll be there again, to call. I’ll be 90, she’ll be 86.”

Judge Rossetti said Crimo will be given credit for time served, and time transported to the Illinois Department of Corrections facility.

“We survive, we have to go on,” said Turnipseed. “I don’t know what I’m going to do today. Go home? Watch TV?”