Aiden McCarthy’s photo was shared through social media groups in the Chicago area during the hours following the July 4 parade shooting in Highland Park, accompanied by requests to help identify the two-year-old who had found himself at the scene bloodied and alone and to meet. him with his family.
On Tuesday, friends and authorities confirmed that the boy’s parents, Kevin McCarthy, 37, and Irina McCarthy, 35, were among the seven people killed in the tragedy.
“At age two, Aiden stays in an unthinkable position; growing up without her parents,” Irina Colon wrote in a GoFundMe account she created for the family and Aiden, who met her grandparents Monday evening .
FBI forensic experts at the scene of the Chicago shooting where seven people were killed. (AP)
McCarthy’s friends said Irina’s parents would take care of the child in the future.
Four of the others who were killed were identified Tuesday as Katherine Goldstein, 64; Jacquelyn Sundheim, 63; Stephen Straus, 88; and Nicolas Toledo-Zaragoza, 78.
All the victims were from Highland Park except Toledo-Zaragoza, who was visiting a family in the city from Morelos, Mexico.
Officials have not yet identified the seventh victim.
Portraits of some of the dead began appearing on Tuesday as investigators continued to search for evidence in the shooting that left at least seven dead and 30 injured.
Irina McCarthy’s childhood friend Angela Vella described McCarthy as funny, nice, and “a little grumpy” who still liked to dress up.
“He definitely had his own style, which I always admired,” Vella said in a brief interview.
Kevin McCarthy, 37, and Irina McCarthy, 35, parents of a young boy, were among the seven people killed in the tragedy of the Chicago shooting. (GoFundMe) (supplied)
Straus, a Chicago financial advisor, was one of the first observers at the parade and attended it every year, his grandchildren said.
Brothers Maxwell and Tobias Straus described his grandfather as a kind and active man who loved to walk, ride a bike, and attend community events.
“The way he lived life, one would think he was still middle-aged,” Maxwell Straus said in an interview.
The two brothers remembered as a favorite tradition Sunday night dinners with their grandparents. They said they ate with him the night before they killed him.
“The gun culture in the United States is killing grandparents,” Maxwell Straus said. “It’s very terrible.”
Meanwhile, Sundheim was recognized as a lifelong congregant and member of the “beloved” staff of the North Shore Congregation Israel in Illinois, where she had worked for decades, the Reform Synagogue said on its website.
Sundheim taught preschool at the synagogue and coordinated events such as bar and bat mitzvah ceremonies.
“Jacki’s work, kindness and warmth touched us all,” synagogue leaders wrote in a message on their website.
“There are not enough words to express the depth of our grief over Jacki’s death and our sympathy for her family and loved ones.”
The Highland Park community has been devastated by the shooting that left six dead and many injured. (AP)
Toledo-Zaragoza was murdered in what her 23-year-old granddaughter, Xochil Toledo, said was supposed to be a “fun family day” that “became a horrible nightmare for all of us.”
On a GoFundMe page to raise money for Toledo funeral expenses, Xochil Toledo said his grandfather was a “loving, creative, adventurous and fun man.”
“As a family we are broken, asleep,” he said.
Toledo-Zaragoza had come to Illinois to visit his family about two months ago, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
His family wanted him to stay permanently because of the injuries he had suffered after being hit by a car a couple of years ago during a previous visit to Highland Park.
The newspaper reported that on Monday he received three bullets and died at the scene.
He wasn’t sure he wanted to attend the parade because of the large influx of people and his limited mobility, which forced him to use a walker, but Xochil Toledo said the family didn’t want to leave him alone.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris called for stricter gun control laws during her visit to Highland Park. (AP)
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris said Americans need to understand that armed violence “can happen anywhere,” during a visit to Highland Park, CNN reports.
“There’s a lot of healing that will have to happen both physically and emotionally. There’s no doubt that this experience is something that will be maintained in terms of trauma,” Harris told media members gathered at the scene of the the shooting in Highland Park.
“I would like to urge all families and all people to seek the support you so rightly deserve.
“Addressing gun security in the United States, the vice president continued,“ We need to be smarter as a country when it comes to who has access to what, and in particular to assault weapons.
“We have to take these things seriously. As seriously as you do because you’ve been forced to take it seriously. The whole nation should understand and have a level of empathy to understand that this can happen anywhere, in any peace-loving community. “