Former preschool teacher identified as a victim of July Fourth parade shooting
(CNN) — What was supposed to be a day of national celebration turned into a day of tragedy and fear when a gunman killed six people and injured dozens of others at a July Fourth parade in Highland Park, Illinois.
Now, yet another community in America is processing their grief as they mourn the loss of family and friends after a suspected shooter used a “high-powered rifle” in an attack that appeared to be “random” and “intentional,” police said.
Authorities believe the shooter, who was apprehended following a manhunt Monday, climbed onto a rooftop of a business and opened fire on the parade about 20 minutes after it started.
A total of 26 patients were received at Highland Park Hospital, said Dr. Brigham Temple, the medical director of the NorthShore University Health System.
The patients ranged in age from 8 years old to 85 years old, and four or five were children, Temple said. He said 19 of the 25 gunshot victims were treated and have been discharged. There were gunshot wounds to extremities as well as more central parts of bodies, he added.
Jacki Sundheim
Jacki Sundheim, 63, has been identified by her synagogue as one of the six people killed in the Fourth of July parade shooting in Highland Park, Illinois.
The North Shore Congregation Israel in Glencoe said in a statement Sundheim was a lifelong congregant and a member of the staff, having been a preschool teacher and events coordinator.
“There are no words sufficient to express the depth of our grief for Jacki’s death and sympathy for her family and loved ones,” the statement said. “We know you join us in the deepest prayer that Jacki’s soul will be bound up in the shelter of God’s wings and her family will somehow find comfort and consolation amidst this boundless grief.”
Nicolas Toledo
Father of eight and grandfather to many, Nicolas Toledo, 78, had been visiting his family in Highland Park from Mexico and was identified as a victim in Monday’s shooting, an official from the state of Morelos told CNN.
Mexican officials issued a press release identifying Toledo as Nicolas “N,” a customary practice in Mexico where authorities use “N” for any last name in official documents, under a law for human rights and protection of privacy of victims.
Toledo loved fishing, painting and going on walks with his family in the park, one of his granddaughters, Kimberly Rangel, told CNN affiliate WBBM.
Toledo’s family set up a GoFundMe page to raise money to repatriate him to Mexico.
“What was suppose(d) to be a fun family day turned into a horrific nightmare for us all,” the organizer of the GoFundMe and another granddaughter, Xochil Toledo wrote. “As a family we are broken, and numb.”
She described her grandfather as a “loving man” who was “creative, adventurous and funny.”
Six of Toledo’s eight children live in the United States, according to the statement from Mexican authorities. One was injured in the shooting alongside two other members of the Toledo family.