Parents Of Boy, 2, Found Alone At Parade Shooting Among Dead

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HIGHLAND PARK (AP) – Aiden McCarthy’s photo was shared across Chicago-area social media groups in the hours after the July 4 parade shooting in Highland Park, accompanied by pleas to help identify the 2-year-old who had been found at the scene bloodied and alone and to reunite him with his family.

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On Tuesday, friends and authorities confirmed that the boy’s parents, Kevin McCarthy, 37, and Irina McCarthy, 35, were among seven people killed in the tragedy.

“At two years old, Aiden is left in the unthinkable position; to grow up without his parents,” wrote Irina Colon on a GoFundMe account she created for the family and Aiden, who was reunited with his grandparents Monday evening.

Friends of the McCarthys said Irina’s parents would care for the boy going forward.

Four of other others who were killed were identified Tuesday as Katherine Goldstein, 64; Jacquelyn Sundheim, 63; Stephen Straus, 88; and Nicolas Toledo-Zaragoza, 78. Every victim was from Highland Park except for Toledo-Zaragoza, who was visiting family in the city from Morelos, Mexico.

Officials haven’t yet identified the seventh victim.

Portraits of some of those who died began to emerge Tuesday as investigators continued to search for evidence in the shooting that killed at least seven and wounded 30.

Irina McCarthy’s childhood friend, Angela Vella, described McCarthy as fun, personable and “somewhat of a tomboy” who still liked to dress up nicely.

“She definitely had her own style, which I always admired,” Vella said in a short interview.

Straus, a Chicago financial adviser, was one of the first observers at the parade and attended it every year, his grandchildren said.

Brothers Maxwell and Tobias Straus described their grandfather as a kind and active man who loved walking, biking and attending community events.

“The way he lived life, you’d think he was still middle-aged,” Maxwell Straus said in an interview.

The two brothers recalled Sunday night dinners with their grandparents as a favorite tradition. They said they ate with him the night before he was killed.

“America’s gun culture is killing grandparents,” said Maxwell Straus. “It’s very just terrible.”

Sundheim, meanwhile, was regaled as a lifelong congregant and “beloved” staff member at North Shore Congregation Israel, where she had worked for decades, the Reform synagogue said on its website. Sundheim taught at the synagogue’s preschool and coordinated events including 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 no words sufficient to express the depth of our grief for Jacki’s death and sympathy for her family and loved ones.”

Toledo-Zaragoza was killed on what his 23-year-old granddaughter, Xochil Toledo, said was supposed to be a “fun family day” that “turned into a horrific nightmare for us all.”

On a GoFundMe page to raise money for Toledo’s funeral expenses, Xochil Toledo said her grandfather was a “loving man, creative, adventurous and funny.”

“As a family we are broken, numb,” she 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 injuries he had suffered after being hit by a car a couple years ago during an earlier visit to Highland Park. The newspaper reported that he was hit by three bullets Monday and died at the scene.

He wasn’t sure he wanted to attend the parade because of the large crowds and his limited mobility, which required him to use a walker, but Xochil Toledo said the family didn’t want to leave him alone.


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23 Comments
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reader
reader
1 year ago

orphaned at the age of 2! may H’ have mercy on this child to grow up normal and have a family of his own some day.

ActuallyJewish
ActuallyJewish
1 year ago

This is so sad I cannot take it.
BDE
Poor child….

Triumpinwhitehouse
Triumpinwhitehouse
1 year ago

BTW his mother is jewish so hence this boy is a yid

.....
.....
1 year ago

BDE.
The child is Jewish.
This so beyond sad. I hope BH he is zocha to grow up in a warm and loving family.

Schluffing Giant
Schluffing Giant
1 year ago

Comparing to Holzbergs a”h – Lehavdil. Those saying BDE – this is a heart wrenching tragedy but Lehavdil bein yisroel l’akum.

Hamakom yinachem eschem for the Jewish families caught in this horrific tragedy, and the non Jewish families should have comfort in this time of mourning as well.

Moshiach Now!

zeide
zeide
1 year ago

you don’t say
lehavdil between two yiden, child is a yid

Concerned for HKB"H honor
Concerned for HKB"H honor
1 year ago

You bring up a good point that most are scared to mention. Thank you.

Yoda
Yoda
1 year ago

“Baruch haMavdil..” This is a tragedy: However, we didn’t see Kevin McCarthy (an Irish name) among the list of 4 Jewish victims (HY’D.) Whose grandparents are raising little Aiden now? Is his name Gaelic? What’s his Jewish name?

Alex
Alex
1 year ago

This administration is to blame !!!

Iyar5
Iyar5
1 year ago

<em>“At two years old, Aiden is left in the unthinkable position; to grow up without his parents,”</em> A tragic repeat of Moshe Holzberg שליט”א
Sleepy joe has to resign over this tragedy immediately, and get lost.

Archy Jr.
Archy Jr.
1 year ago

As sad as this is one must accept the fact that such deaths are a consequence of our indisputable right to bear arms and a small price to pay for this right