(CNN) — By his father’s final act of heroism, Aiden McCarthy survived Monday’s carnage at a July Fourth parade in suburban Chicago. But the 2-year-old now is left to grow up without either of his parents — an orphan of America’s bane of mass shootings.
Kevin McCarthy, 37, and his wife, Irina, 35, were among seven people who died following an explosion of bullets Monday from a rooftop into a holiday crowd in Highland Park, Illinois, the Lake County Coroner’s Office has said. Nearly 40 others were injured.
Aiden was protected from the gunfire by Kevin’s body, even as the man lay wounded, Irina’s father and Aiden’s grandfather, Michael Levberg, told the Chicago Sun-Times.
Aiden “was pulled out from underneath his father, who was still bleeding, by good Samaritans,” US Sen. Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat, told CNN’s John Berman on Wednesday. “Then, they went to work on his dad because his dad’s leg was still bleeding.”
The McCarthys had been looking forward to seeing the parade with their toddler, Levberg told the Sun-Times.
“They were crazy about their child,” he said. “They were planning two.”
After the gunfire subsided, Aiden — a little boy, all alone — “was walking in the street,” his grandfather told the Sun-Times. It’s an image others caught in the chaos and shared on social media.
Strangers cared for the child before his grandparents were found, according to a verified GoFundMe campaign that his mother’s cousin, Irina Colon, started after the shooting.
Aiden was taken to a police station, where he was reunited with Levberg, the grandfather told Chicago Tribune.
“When I picked him up, he said, ‘Are Mommy and Daddy coming soon?’” Levberg said Tuesday. “He doesn’t understand.”
“At two years old, Aiden is left in the unthinkable position; to grow up without his parents,” the fundraising campaign said.
“Aiden will be cared for by his loving family and he will have a long road ahead to heal, find stability, and ultimately navigate life as an orphan,” it said. “He is surrounded by a community of friends and extended family that will embrace him with love, and any means available to ensure he has everything he needs as he grows.”
More than $2 million had been raised by Wednesday morning, according to the GoFundMe account, which will support the boy “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.”