LAKE COUNTY, Ill. (WGN) The mother of Highland Park parade shooter Robert Crimo III was admonished by the judge Monday as news emerged in the courtroom of a plea agreement in the high profile case.

Crimo III, moments before opening statements were set to begin, withdrew his earlier not-guilty plea in the 2022 Independence Day mass shooting that killed seven and wounded dozens more.

As Judge Victoria Rossetti was announcing the agreement in her 8th floor courtroom, Crimo’s mother Denise Pesina made a comment with a soft voice that caught the judge’s attention and prompted her to halt the proceedings.

Bailiffs took Pesina to the bench on Rossetti’s orders.

“We’re going to move forward,” Rossetti said to Pesina. “You are not a party to this proceeding. If you would like to stay in the courtroom please have a seat and be quiet.”

She was allowed to stay.

But following proceedings, Pesina stormed out of the Lake County Courthouse in Waukegan and blasted the judicial system.

“My son is innocent,” Pesina yelled. “He has no free will to make his own choices, and he has never had any outside help. They regulate everything. He has been a prisoner and this is wrong.”

Crimo pleaded guilty to 21 counts of murder, three counts for each victim who was killed, and another 48 counts of attempted murder. Additional counts of aggravated battery were dropped last week. Rossetti is scheduled to sentence Crimo on April 23.