In a courtroom filled with anguish and irreparable heartbreak, one of the most evil acts in recent American memory finally reached its legal conclusion. Robert E. Crimo III, the remorseless shooter who turned a Fourth of July celebration into a massacre in Highland Park, Illinois, was sentenced Thursday to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The only problem? Justice—real, moral justice—still feels out of reach.
This 24-year-old killer, who methodically gunned down seven innocent Americans and maimed 48 others, will now spend the rest of his life behind bars. He deserves every second of that sentence and more. But even as Judge Victoria Rossetti delivered her scathing condemnation—calling Crimo “irretrievably depraved” and “beyond any rehabilitation”—one thing was painfully clear: the damage he inflicted cannot be undone, and the cowardice he displayed cannot be forgotten.
Crimo didn’t even have the decency to show up for his sentencing hearing. Twice he refused to face the families he destroyed. It’s a move that speaks volumes about the gutless, soulless nature of the man. He plotted his attack, climbed a rooftop disguised in women’s clothing, and executed a massacre on what should have been a day of national pride and family celebration. And when the moment came to face the people whose lives he shattered, he tucked tail and hid.
One of those victims, Cooper Roberts—just eight years old when he was struck—will never walk again. His mother, Keely Roberts, made her pain known in court, directing her words at the man who stole her son’s future. “You are now irrelevant,” she said with heartbreaking clarity. And she’s right—irrelevant to a civilized society, a name that deserves to be forgotten as we remember only the victims.
But while Crimo fades into the oblivion of a prison cell, questions still linger—and they cut straight to the failure of leadership, accountability, and common sense. Where were the red flags? Why was this man, who displayed every warning sign imaginable, allowed to legally purchase firearms?
That answer, in part, lies with his father, Robert Crimo Jr., a failed mayoral candidate who helped his son obtain a gun license. Despite his role in arming a future mass murderer, Crimo Sr. served less than two months in jail after pleading guilty to seven misdemeanor counts of reckless conduct. Let that sink in—two months. That’s the extent of accountability for the man who helped put a deadly weapon in the hands of a ticking time bomb.
Meanwhile, Americans across this country are hounded by the left for daring to defend their Second Amendment rights. Responsible gun owners are vilified, yet a father who enables a mass killer walks free in 60 days. Where’s the outrage?
This is what happens when common sense and consequence are replaced by political theater and moral confusion. The gun didn’t pull its own trigger—Crimo did. And he was empowered by a culture that makes excuses for broken homes, ignores mental health, and prioritizes political correctness over public safety.
President Trump was right when he said we need to harden targets and enforce laws that actually protect our communities. But in liberal enclaves like Illinois, the system is stacked against law-abiding citizens and favors the “rights” of criminals.
Life in prison may be the maximum punishment the law allows, but the truth is, Robert Crimo III deserved far worse. He earned the wrath of a nation, and he ought to be a permanent reminder that evil exists and flourishes when accountability fails.
