‘Our lives were shattered forever’: Survivor of Highland Park massacre talks about family’s struggles since shooting

It’s been two years since Keely Roberts and her twin sons were wounded by a gunman in the mass shooting at Highland Park’s Independence Day parade.

Two years since what she called “the total annihilation of our lives.”

The family that walked together from their Highland Park home to the parade route that morning “is gone,” Roberts said during an online news conference Wednesday. “Our lives were shattered forever.”

Roberts’ now-10-year-old twin boys, Cooper and Luke, were the youngest victims of the violence that day. Cooper was shot in the spine and paralyzed from the waist down; Luke was hit by shrapnel.

Keely Roberts was shot in the leg; her four daughters and husband weren’t physically injured. But all of them are scarred by a horrific day Roberts said “lives on forever.”

Robert E. Crimo III of Highwood is charged in the shooting spree, which left seven people dead and 48 others wounded.

Keely Roberts and other victims and relatives of victims were in Lake County court last week when the defendant backed out of a plea deal that would’ve sent him to prison for the rest of his life.

He’s now scheduled to face trial in February on dozens of charges, including 21 counts of first-degree murder.

Five of those killed were Highland Park residents: Katherine Goldstein, 64; Stephen Straus, 88; Jacquelyn “Jacki” Sundheim, 63; Kevin McCarthy, 37; and Irina McCarthy, 35. Also killed were Nicolas Toledo-Zaragoza, 78, of Mexico, and Eduardo Uvaldo, 69, of Waukegan.

Roberts called the defendant’s decision to withdraw his expected guilty plea “another example of the re-victimization of victims.”

She described the shock of seeing the defendant enter the courtroom in a wheelchair despite — unlike her son — having the ability to walk.

“That one felt like a knife to the heart,” said Roberts, who never named the defendant during the roughly 30-minute news conference. “Cooper never gets to decide if he wants to use a wheelchair or not. No, Cooper’s choices were stolen, violently, from him.”

Roberts said she hopes justice eventually will be served. But she doesn’t expect she’ll even find emotional closure from the tragedy.

Last week’s delay, she said, was cruel.

“It really feels like being stuck in purgatory,” Roberts said. “You can’t move on.”

In addition to undergoing physical and occupational therapy, Cooper has begun playing sled hockey and is pursuing other athletic opportunities for kids with physical disabilities. Once a die-hard soccer player, Cooper is excited to be part of an athletic team again, his mom said.

He also swims and plays tennis and wants to play baseball, although the family hasn’t yet found a team for kids with physical disabilities.

“If it’s out there, he’ll try it,” she said.

Not all the wounds Cooper and his family suffered are physical.

Roberts said her daughters are living with “indescribable survivor’s guilt.” And they all are working with psychological therapists to deal with post-traumatic stress disorder and other issues.

The family won’t attend Thursday’s parade in Highland Park. Roberts doesn’t know if they’ll ever go to another one.

Fundraisers to help the Roberts family renovate their home to improve accessibility for Cooper are ongoing. Information can be found at gofundme.com/f/coopers-home and at helphopelive.org/campaign/21587/.

Roberts expressed gratitude for the support her family has received from around the world.

“The moral of the story for us is going to be that love wins, that good is stronger than evil,” she said.