{"id":1542207,"date":"2022-07-06T22:04:10","date_gmt":"2022-07-07T02:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1542207"},"modified":"2022-07-06T22:04:18","modified_gmt":"2022-07-07T02:04:18","slug":"highland-park-father-died-shielding-toddler-son-during-july-4-mass-shooting-family-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/highland-park-father-died-shielding-toddler-son-during-july-4-mass-shooting-family-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Highland Park Father Died Shielding Toddler Son During July 4 Mass Shooting, Family Says"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fhighland-park-father-died-shielding-toddler-son-during-july-4-mass-shooting-family-says%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1542207&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/over-1-million-raised-for-2-year-old-who-lost-both-parents-in-highland-park-shooting\">two-year-old boy<\/a> who lost both parents during the July 4 Highland Park, Illinois, mass <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/shooting-sends-4th-of-july-parade-into-chaos-multiple-feared-injured-or-dead\">shooting<\/a> Monday was protected from the 80-round fusillade by his dying father, according to the boy\u2019s grandfather.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Kevin McCarthy, 37, died shielding young Aiden after a shooter climbed atop a business roof and fired into a crowd of parade goers Monday. Aiden\u2019s mother Irina McCarthy, 35, also was among the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/highland-park-death-toll-rises-to-7-officials-release-victims-names\">seven killed<\/a> in the mass shooting, tragically leaving the boy an orphan.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Aiden\u2019s maternal grandfather Michael Levberg <a href=\"https:\/\/chicago.suntimes.com\/2022\/7\/5\/23195969\/highland-park-mass-shooting-fourth-july-parade-irina-kevin-mccarthy-aiden-victims\">told<\/a> the Chicago Sun-Times that the boy\u2019s father \u201chad Aiden under his body when he was shot.\u201d\u00a0The toddler was found \u201cwalking the street\u201d alone after the shooting, according to his grandfather.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>When Levberg picked up Aiden from the police station, he said his grandson told him, \u201cMommy and Daddy are coming soon.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The boy\u2019s paternal grandmother Margo McCarthy joined the family during the parade and was reportedly struck by a bullet in the ear and survived.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe was holding Aiden when the shooting started,\u201d Margo\u2019s cousin Montgomery Kersten told the Sun-Times. \u201cAs she fell, Aiden was under his father,\u201d Kersten said. \u201cI\u2019m sure it was God looking out for him. The Lord saved Aiden and saved Margo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After Aiden was separated from his parents during the shooting, the two-year-old was taken by good Samaritans Dana and Greg Ring, who had found him with another person who was in shock, CBS Chicago <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/chicago\/news\/both-parents-of-toddler-killed-in-highland-park-mass-shooting\/\">reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c\u200b\u200bShe was physically shaking, her whole body, which told us that \u2026 she shouldn\u2019t be having to hold, and\/or deal with a little one at the same time,\u201d Dana Ring explained.<\/p>\n<p>The couple tried to locate Aiden\u2019s parents but were unsuccessful, describing the scene as \u201ccarnage.\u201d The Rings then took the child to a fire station where a police detective later picked him up and managed to locate his grandparents.<\/p>\n<p>The day after the shooting, a GoFundMe was set up for Aiden and, within four hours, it surpassed $1 million in donations.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt two years old, Aiden is left in the unthinkable position; to grow up without his parents,\u201d the GoFundMe <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gofundme.com\/f\/irina-and-kevin-mccarthy\">page<\/a> organized by Irina Colon states. \u201cAiden 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. 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The GoFundMe page says that the money will go toward helping \u201cthe caregivers who will be tasked with raising, caring for, and supporting Aiden as he and his support system embark on this unexpected journey.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Aiden\u2019s fundraiser has now raised over $2.5 million.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The two-year-old boy who lost both parents during the July 4 Highland Park, Illinois, mass shooting Monday was protected from the 80-round fusillade by his dying father, according to the boy\u2019s grandfather.\u00a0 Kevin McCarthy, 37, died shielding young Aiden after a shooter climbed atop a business roof and fired into a crowd of parade goers &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":324,"featured_media":1542232,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1542207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1542207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/324"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1542207"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1542207\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1542232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1542207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1542207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1542207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}