Highland Park shooter made a prank call to a reporter from prison

The suspected Highland Park shooter spent New Year's Eve making a prank phone call from behind bars. According to the Lake County Sheriff's Office, Robert Crimo III called a reporter from the New York Post on the last day of 2022.

After the automated greeting signaled the call was from a correctional institution in Lake County, according to the Post, Crimo went on to ask the reporter, "Is your refrigerator running?" 

The reporter then replied, "Uh, yeah, why?" 

Crimo responded, "Well, you better go catch it," laughing before hanging up the phone. 

The Post had attempted to schedule an interview with Crimo through the jail’s communication app in December. Although a meeting was never arranged, he did pick up the phone weeks later and called the number on the reporter’s profile. When the reporter picked up the phone on December 31, the inmate was identified by a pre-recorded voice message.

Survivors of the July 4 massacre aren't laughing, though. Liz Turnipseed was shot in her pelvis while attending the parade with her husband and 3-year-old daughter. 

“He clearly doesn’t have any respect for life and people in any way shape or form,” Turnipseed told the Post. 

“Whether that’s him making an unbelievable lame prank call to a reporter or committing a mass shooting, I think it just speaks to the terrible person that is,” said the 41-year-old who is suing Crimo in federal court, noting that she now walks with a cane and suffers panic attacks in crowded public spaces.

Jewish toddler orphaned at Highland Park Fourth of July parade massacre

The deadly shooting at a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, a suburb of Chicago, left a Jewish toddler an orphan.

Two-year-old Aiden survived the attack because his father shielded him with his body, local media reported. The toddler was eventually found wandering alone after the attack, and given to his grandparents by police. At least two Jewish community members, including the boy’s mother, were among the seven people who were killed.

The other Jewish victim identified in the July 4 attack was Jacki Sundheim, 63, the bar and bat mitzvah and events coordinator at North Shore Congregation Israel, a Reform synagogue in Glencoe, Illinois. She attended the synagogue and had worked there for decades.

Haley Cohen contributed to this report.