(HIGHLAND PARK, Ill.) — The parents of a young child were two of the victims in the mass shooting at a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois.
Irina McCarthy, 35, and Kevin McCarthy, 37, were among the seven people killed during Monday’s massacre, Highland Park City Manager Ghida Neukrich told ABC News. The couple leaves behind their 2-year-old son, Aiden McCarthy, who was separated from his parents during the shooting. The toddler was later reunited with his grandparents, according to Neukrich.
Lauren Silva was out for breakfast with her boyfriend and his son when she heard gunshots coming from the parade.
Describing the scene as eerie and chaotic, she said her boyfriend and his teenage son noticed Kevin McCarthy on the ground and tried to stop his bleeding, when they noticed Aiden underneath him, ultimately pulling him out and handing him over to Silva, she told ABC News.
“He wasn’t crying. Sweet little boy,” Silva said. “He just kept saying, ‘Is momma or dada OK?’ And it was hard to look at him in the face and say it’s going to be okay when I didn’t know if it was.”
Dana and Gregory Ring, who survived the shooting, told ABC News how Silva handed the little boy to them in the chaos after the rampage, with his parents nowhere in sight.
“Every time I tried to ask him what his name was, the response he gave to me was, ‘Mama, Dada come get me soon. Mommy’s car come to get me soon,'” Dana Ring recalled in an interview that aired Wednesday on “Good Morning America.”
Unsure of what to do, the Rings took Aiden to a nearby fire station.
“When we pulled in, the cops looked like they were getting ready for war,” Gregory Ring said during the interview. “I’ll never forget. I pulled up and I said, ‘This is not our kid. It’s not his blood, he’s OK. What should we do?’ And the cop said, ‘We can’t be babysitters now. Can you take care of him?’ We said, ‘Of course.'”
About two to three hours later, a detective who had the Rings’ telephone number contacted them about Aiden.
“He took the little boy to where families were being reunited and then he told me he was eventually reunited with his grandparents,” Gregory Ring said.
Marianna Beck, a friend of Irina McCarthy’s from high school, described her as silly, kind and caring.
“You could see her smile from a mile away,” Beck told ABC News, saying Irina was a “motivator for life, did her thing, was non-apologetic.”
The suspected gunman — identified by authorities as 21-year-old Robert “Bobby” Crimo III — was charged with seven counts of first-degree murder on Tuesday.
Crimo allegedly fired more than 70 rounds from a high-powered rifle, similar to an AR-15, into the crowd at Monday’s parade, authorities said. At least 30 people were injured in the shooting.
Five victims died at the scene of the massacre on Monday, while one died at the hospital. A seventh victim died on Tuesday, authorities said.
If convicted, Crimo faces up to life in prison without parole.
ABC News’ Stephanie Ramos contributed to this report.
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