WAUKEGAN, Ill. >> The man accused of killing seven people with a high-powered rifle during a Fourth of July parade in suburban Chicago in 2022 pleaded guilty Monday, just as opening statements were expected to begin in his murder trial.

Robert Crimo III pleaded guilty to 69 criminal counts, including murder and attempted murder, which will result in a sentence of at least seven consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.

“Is this what you want to do today, plead guilty?” Judge Victoria A. Rossetti of Lake County circuit court asked Crimo, who sat expressionless in court, wearing a suit and tie and staring straight ahead.

“Yes,” Crimo answered when Rossetti asked if he understood what had been explained to him about his plea.

The surprise plea averted a jury trial in a crime that shocked Highland Park, Illinois, a lakefront suburb of Chicago. Prosecutors said Crimo climbed onto a rooftop in downtown Highland Park on July 4, 2022, and sprayed bullets onto the crowd at the parade below. He managed to escape during the chaos, but was apprehended in a nearby town hours later.

The attack left Highland Park paralyzed with terror and grief, upending an event that was meant to celebrate freedom and community in a close-knit town.

Dozens of people who were in attendance were wounded by bullets and taken to nearby hospitals. Residents were warned to stay in their homes during the search for the gunman. In the Chicago region, fireworks displays and other town gatherings to celebrate the Fourth of July were called off.

The effort to prosecute Crimo stretched for years, a tumultuous process that frustrated Highland Park residents and sparked debate over the role that Crimo’s father played. He had helped his son obtain a license to buy firearms before the shooting.

Eric Rinehart, the Lake County state’s attorney, said Monday that he had been prepared to go to trial and present overwhelming evidence that would prove Crimo’s guilt.

“He received nothing in exchange for this plea today,” Rinehart said. “We have been working for years to prepare our evidence.”

That evidence included eyewitness testimony, trajectory analysis, ballistics reports and Crimo’s own confession to law enforcement officials on the day of the murders, Rinehart said.

The plea came as a shock to nearly everyone gathered in the courtroom Monday.

Officials said Crimo, now 24, had asked to change his plea at the courthouse before the trial Monday morning. The dozens of family members of victims who had gathered to watch the trial learned of the change in plea as it was being announced.

Crimo’s mother, Denise Pesina, called out in anger from her seat in the courtroom when the plea was announced, but remained quiet after being admonished by the judge and threatened with removal.

George Gomez, a lawyer for Crimo’s father, Robert Crimo Jr., said the elder Crimo, who declined to comment, did not know in advance that his son had decided to plead guilty. The father declined to comment.

In 2023, the elder Crimo pleaded guilty to seven misdemeanor counts of reckless conduct for his role in helping his son own firearms. He sponsored the application for his son’s gun permit, despite indications that his son was capable of violence.

In 2019, months before the state gun permit was acquired, a family member told authorities that the younger Crimo had threatened to “kill everyone.” Police officers removed 16 knives, a dagger and a sword from the home but decided that there was not probable cause to arrest him at that time.

After court adjourned Monday, many family members remained behind to speak with Rinehart, then left without speaking to reporters. Several hugged each other and wept as they walked out.

Ashbey Beasley, a Highland Park resident who has become an outspoken gun control activist, said afterward that averting a long trial — one that was estimated to take at least four weeks — felt like some measure of relief.

Beasley, who was at the parade in 2022 and fled with her son after shots rang out, said the shooting had left the community of Highland Park traumatized.

“Every moment that we can move forward is a great relief,” she said.

Jennifer McGuffin, a spokesperson for the law firm Romanucci & Blandin, which represents more than 50 families who survived the attack or whose relatives were killed, said the firm’s clients had gone home after court.

“Today was a very emotional event,” she said. “They have all asked for some time and space to process.”