Lauren Silva and her boyfriend ran through the crowd looking for survivors immediately after the shooting at the 4th of July parade in Highland Park, Chicago. They themselves had just become survivors of the massacre. Suddenly, Lauren found a child in her arms, covered in blood, but alive. The bodies of her parents, Irina and Kevin McCarthy, protected him from her and saved his life.
That morning Lauren Silva woke up wanting banana pancakes for breakfast, she told the Daily Beast. The two headed to a cafe across the street from where the 4th of July parade was to take place. The place was perfect to taste those pancakes. However, the dream turned into a nightmare when Lauren and her partner began to hear the explosions of the shots.
“It sounded like someone was banging on the glass doors. I didn’t hear a scream at all, it was eerie silence,” he tells the newspaper. From one of the rooftops, Robert Crimo, 21, fired indiscriminately at the crowd that was enjoying the parade, killing 7 people, including the parents of little Aiden.
“My boyfriend handed me this little boy and said he was under his father who had been shot in the leg,” Lauren Silva tells the Daily Beast. “They were trying to stop the bleeding, so I took the kid down to the garage.” Lauren and the boy huddled together for safety, along with another family. “I kept asking if mom and dad are coming back soon,” she said.
The boy, who was still in diapers, had one shoe on, some scratches and a sock completely covered in blood. After cleaning up the boy’s cuts and being in the garage for about 20 minutes, Lauren went back upstairs to inquire about the status of the boy’s father. “That’s when my boyfriend told me that he had died.”
Lauren left the child with the family they had taken refuge with in the garage. Greg and Dana Ring, who were in the parade, told WGN-TV that while they were running from the gunfire, they saw a woman carrying a child covered in blood.
“He asked us, ‘Can you take care of the child?’ We said, ‘Of course,’ and we took him to our in-laws. He was left watching cartoons,” said Greg Ring. “And then we were told that a detective came and took care of the boy and met with his grandparents, that’s all we know.”
Aiden was reunited with his grandparents, but it has been the North Shore community that has wanted to turn to the little one through a GoFundMe page in which a crowdfunding has been launched to help the little one and that has already raised more of 1 million dollars.
“After the shooting in Highland Park, IL on the 4th of July, the North Shore community came together to help a boy we knew nothing about. We brought him to safety under tragic circumstances, we came together to locate his grandparents and we pray for the safety of his family,” the fundraising page stated.
“Sadly, I need to share his name…Aiden McCarthy. And he needs more of our help. His parents, Irina and Kevin, were killed during the 4th of July shooting,” it continued.
“On behalf of his family, and with his permission, I am establishing this fundraiser to support him 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. “.
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