At a nearby hospital, a young child who was discovered bloodied and unaccompanied during the chaos of the Highland Park Fourth of July shooting has been reunited with his grandparents.
According to a tweet from Jackie Kostek of CBS Chicago, the child was discovered alone and kept “safe but with strangers.” The boy’s relationship to his parents and/or grandparents is unknown.
After the shooter started firing, he was taken hold of by an unnamed local chef.
Uncertainty surrounds whether the child’s blood or that of someone else is visible stains on the child’s leg and shoes.
The shooter is still being sought by the authorities.
A Sun-Times reporter captured video of the scene after shots were fired, showing a band on a float playing while onlookers ran past screaming.
In a picture shared on social media, Highland Park’s downtown appears to have blood pools close to chairs that are turned upside down.
Gina Troiani and her son were waiting in line to enter the parade route with his daycare class when she heard a loud noise that she initially mistook for fireworks until she heard shouts about a shooter.
According to her, “We just start running in the opposite direction.”
Her five-year-old son was riding a bicycle with red and blue curled ribbons attached to it. He and the other kids in the group were waving miniature American flags.
A kids’ bike and pet parade was one of the events, according to the city’s website.
Troiani claimed that in order to return to their car, she pushed her son’s bike while running through the neighbourhood.
A siren can be heard nearby as some of the children run to the side of the road in a video that Troiani captured on her phone. The children appear startled by the loud noise.
It was absolutely chaos, she claimed. There were those searching for their relatives after becoming separated from them. Others simply dropped their wagons, grabbed their children, and fled.
Before noticing individuals “racing down the street,” Matt Phillip, the manager of a tasting area at Lynfred Winery, claimed to have heard “what sounded like explosions.”
“We opened our doors so they could either seek refuge inside our building or leave out our back-alley door,” the statement continued.
He claims that 30 people took refuge in the shop for about 15 minutes.
Miles Zaremsky, a resident of the area since the 1960s, claimed to have seen the “carnage.”
“The crowd broke into a stampede.” I’d never seen anything like that. On some people’s bodies, I spotted blood.
I thought that two or three of the people [aged between 25 and 40] were dead. I was really repulsed and sick to my stomach by how filthy and heartbreaking it was.
“I did see a young boy in his parents’ arms who appeared [pale] and was covered with blood.”
They shouted for medical personnel. It’s unbelievable; it seems like something from science fiction, yet it’s true.
J.B. Pritzker, the governor of Illinois, tweeted that he is “closely monitoring the situation in Highland Park” and that Illinois State Police are assisting.
In an email, the ISP stated that it was helping with the response to a shooter that had been reported around 10:24 a.m.
Assisting Highland Park Police “with a gunshot in the neighborhood of the Independence Day parade route,” the Lake County Sheriff’s Office wrote on Twitter.
An AP reporter was told to get in touch with Highland Park Police through the sheriff’s office. No one was immediately available for comment, according to the police department.
Debbie Glickman, a resident of Highland Park, claimed to have been on a parade float with colleagues when she noticed individuals fleeing the scene as the group was about to turn into the main path.
According to Glickman, “There’s a shooter, there’s a shooter, there’s a shooter” became a common phrase. So we simply fled. We simply fled. There is utter chaos, as it were.
She didn’t notice any sounds or anyone who seemed to be hurt.
She said, “I’m really terrified out.” “It’s just really tragic,”