By his father’s final act of heroism, Aiden McCarthy survived Monday’s carnage at a 7月4日パレード in suburban Chicago. But the 2-year-old now is left to grow up without either of his parents — an orphan of America’s bane of mass shootings.
ケビンマッカーシー, 37, と彼の妻, イリーナ, 35, were among seven people who died following an explosion of bullets Monday from a rooftop into a holiday crowd in Highland Park, イリノイ, the Lake County Coroner’s Office has said. ほぼ 40 他の人が負傷した.
Aiden was protected from the gunfire by Kevin’s body, even as the man lay wounded, Irina’s father and Aiden’s grandfather, Michael Levberg, に言った シカゴサンタイムズ.
Aiden “was pulled out from underneath his father, who was still bleeding, by good Samaritans,” US Sen. タミー・ダックワース, イリノイ州の民主党員, told CNN’s John Berman on Wednesday. “その後、, they went to work on his dad because his dad’s leg was still bleeding.”
The McCarthys had been looking forward to seeing the parade with their toddler, Levberg told the Sun-Times.
“They were crazy about their child,” 彼は言った. “They were planning two.”
After the gunfire subsided, Aiden — a little boy, all alone — “was walking in the street,” his grandfather told the Sun-Times. It’s an image others caught in the chaos and shared on social media.
Strangers cared for the child before his grandparents were found, according to a verified GoFundMe campaign that his mother’s cousin, Irina Colon, started after the shooting.
Aiden was taken to a police station, where he was reunited with Levberg, the grandfather told Chicago Tribune.
“When I picked him up, 彼は言った, ‘Are Mommy and Daddy coming soon?'” Levberg said Tuesday. “He doesn’t understand.”
“At two years old, Aiden is left in the unthinkable position; to grow up without his parents,” the fundraising campaign said.
“Aiden will be cared for by his loving family and he will have a long road ahead to heal, find stability, and ultimately navigate life as an orphan,” と言いました. “He is surrounded by a community of friends and extended family that will embrace him with love, and any means available to ensure he has everything he needs as he grows.”
より多い $ 2 million had been raised by Wednesday morning, according to the GoFundMe account, which will support the boy “and the caregivers who will be tasked with raising, caring for, and supporting Aiden as he and his support system embark on this unexpected journey.”
