A little boy was separated from his parents amid the chaos. A concerned father placed his child and little brother inside a metal dumpster. Many families sheltered in nearby businesses, including a sporting goods store and wine bar.
Attendees at an annual July Fourth parade in Highland Park, Illinois, are speaking out after fleeing a mass shooting left at seven people dead and dozens injured.
As the crowd ran for their lives, a little boy was somehow separated from his parents and left behind in the chaos.
“It was just — pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, and then we just all started running,” Dana Ring said.
Ring and her husband, Dave, scooped the little boy up and brought him to their house, before posting an appeal on social media: “Do you know this child?”
“Every time I asked him his name, his response was, 'Mama, dada, come get me soon? They come get me soon?'" Dana said.
Hours later, a cop got the couple’s number and picked up the little boy, Dave said.
Video taken by Chicago journalist Lynn Sweet shows a band playing on the back of a truck, unaware of the mayhem unfolding all around them.
“All of a sudden a sea of people was running towards me,” Sweet said. “Just behind me I saw bodies. I saw wounded. I saw blood.”
Tuba player Howard Prager was on the truck.
“We thought, ‘How the heck do we get out of here? What do we do?’ And fortunately, a couple minutes later, there was an opening in the crowd. We were able to turn the truck around,” Prager said.
Meanwhile, Alex Sandoval grabbed his son and little brother and fled. He found a safe place to hide the boys inside a metal dumpster and dropped them inside.
“The garbage can seemed like a strong place to hide,” Sandoval said.
Others found shelter in local businesses. Video shows desperate families scrambling into a sporting goods store.
Another video was taken inside Lynfred Winery, where Matt Philips is the manager.
“People started seeking shelter in our basement, bathroom, over in our back storage room. A lot of screaming children, consoling parents, just running for their lives,” Philips said.
Among those wounded was teenager Lilli Carrasco, who was shot in the face. She took photos of herself at the hospital showing her shirt, jeans and sneakers stained with blood.
“I’m still in shock,” she tweeted. She received stitches to close up the gunshot wound on her face.
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