Little Aiden’s parents were attending the 4th of July parade in Highland Park when they were shot by a sniper on the roof of a business. In a panic, residents collected the child and brought him to safety before launching a search warrant to find his relatives.
He was later picked up by his grandparents, according to authorities who confirmed on Tuesday that both his parents were among the seven people killed.
The amount of the kitty created Tuesday on the participative site GoFundMe had been placed at 500,000 dollars. Wednesday followingnoon, it exceeded the 2.5 million dollars paid by more than 46,000 donors.
One of them is billionaire philanthropist William Ackman, who donated $18,000, according to the site. On the day of the tragedy, he had denounced on his Twitter account the inaction of the authorities in the face of the shootings and on Tuesday he had retweeted a photo of the little boy.
“Aiden will be cared for by his loving family and he will have a long way to go to heal, find stability and live as an orphan”, wrote the organizer of this kitty, claiming to have had the approval of the child’s family.
A 21-year-old young man opened fire indiscriminately on the crowd with a semi-automatic rifle, also injuring more than thirty. Arrested on Monday following a run of several hours, he was charged with murder and faces life imprisonment.
