Victims of the Highland Park Fourth of July parade shooting will be allowed to attend the upcoming trial of the alleged shooter, a Lake County judge ruled on Thursday. 

Prosecutors filed the motion to allow the victims in the courthouse even though many of them could be called as witnesses. On Thursday, Judge Victoria Rossetti said the victim's testimony would not be impacted by other victims' testimonies, and the decision would be up to each individual victim witness if they want to attend. 

Rossetti said victims may have an attorney and a support person with them in the courtroom. 

Jury selection will begin on Monday morning. Rossetti said the suspected shooter does not have to be present during the trial. 

The suspect, Robert Crimo III, is facing seven counts of first-degree murder and dozens of other charges related to the 2022 mass shooting. He has remained in the custody of the Lake County Jail since he was charged. 

Those who were killed in the Independence Day parade attack were 64-year-old Katherine Goldstein, of Highland Park; 35-year-old Irina McCarthy, of Highland Park; 37-year-old Kevin McCarthy, of Highland Park; 63-year-old Jacquelyn Sundheim, of Highland Park; 88-year-old Stephen Straus, of Highland Park; 78-year-old Nicolas Toledo-Zaragoza, of Morelos, Mexico; and 69-year-old Eduardo Uvaldo, of Waukegan. 

Forty-eight other people were wounded in the shooting. Among them was Cooper Roberts, then 8, who was left paralyzed from the waist down. 

Prosecutors had offered Crimo a plea deal involving a guilty plea to 55 charges, including seven counts of murder and 48 counts of aggravated battery with a firearm. Under the plea, the accused shooter would have been sentenced to natural life imprisonment. 

In June, Crimo rejected the plea deal.