'Taken too soon': Remembering Highland Park shooting victims

Two of the victims of a July 4 parade massacre in a Chicago suburb left behind a 2-year-old son. Another was staying with family in Illinois after he was injured in car wreck about two months earlier.

For some, it was a tradition. They were avid travelers, members of their synagogue and professionals. But in a hail of gunfire they became the latest victims in a string of horrific mass shootings.

The victims were Kevin McCarthy, 37; Irina McCarthy, 35; Katherine Goldstein, 64; Stephen Straus, 88; Jacquelyn Sundheim, 63; Nicolas Toledo-Zaragoza, 78; and Eduardo Uvaldo, 69.

KEVIN and IRINA MCCARTHY

It was supposed to be a fun day for the couple, who brought their 2-year-old son, Aiden, with them to watch marching bands and patriotic floats.

Instead they were killed in the gunfire, leaving their son orphaned. A stranger scooped up the blood-covered toddler and handed him to Greg Ring as he took cover with his wife and three children behind a popular pancake house.

“We kind of met eyes and didn’t say anything.... I put my arms out, and she gave him to me,” Ring said Wednesday, when describing the exchange with the unidentified woman, who then laid down in front of their car in shock.

The boy pointed in the direction of the parade route, saying “Mommy, Daddy, Mommy, Daddy.”

The family later was able to identify the boy and reunite him with his grandparents. Friends of the McCarthys said Irina’s parents would care for the boy going forward.

Irina Colon wrote on a GoFundMe account she created for the family and Aiden that the boy would “have a long road ahead to heal, find stability, and ultimately navigate life as an orphan."

STEPHEN STRAUS

He showed up to the parade early and was attending alone, according to his grandchildren, who ate dinner with him the night before.

The Independence Day parade was an annual tradition for Straus – one of the many ways the 88-year-old financial advisor stayed active and involved in his community. According to his family, Straus rode the train to work every day, walked and biked regularly and loved to visit art museums and festivals.

“Despite his age, he was taken too soon,” said grandson Maxwell Straus.

Maxwell and his brother Tobias fondly recalled going out for Sunday night dinners with their grandfather, a weekly routine that persisted despite the COVID-19 pandemic, when the grandsons would visit outside his window.

Losing their grandfather was a surreal experience, the brothers said. “You never really imagine something like that can happen to you or your loved ones,” said Maxwell Straus.

Straus is survived by a brother, a wife, his son and four grandchildren, all of whom his family said he was close with.

JACQUELYN SUNDHEIM

She loved her synagogue, where she once taught preschoolers and coordinated bar and bat mitzvah ceremonies.

She had worked there for decades and was a devoted, lifelong member known for her kindness and warmth, synagogue officials said in a statement.

“There are no words sufficient to express the depth of our grief for Jacki’s death and sympathy for her family and loved ones,” said the statement, signed by three top synagogue leaders.

Sundheim, 63, was survived by her husband, Bruce, and their daughter Leah, according to an email the synagogue sent to congregants. She was one the first victims identified after the shooting.

KATHERINE GOLDSTEIN

Her husband described her as an easygoing travel companion who was always game to visit far-flung locales.

“She didn’t complain,” Craig Goldstein told The New York Times. “She was always along for the ride.”

Goldstein was a mother of two daughters in their early 20s, Cassie and Alana. She attended the parade with her older daughter so that Cassie could reunite with friends from high school, Craig Goldstein, a hospital physician, told the newspaper.

Dr. Goldstein said his wife had recently lost her mother and had given thought to what kind of arrangements she might want when she dies.

He recalled that Katherine, an avid bird watcher, said she wanted to be cremated and to have her remains scattered in the Montrose Beach area of Chicago, where there is a bird sanctuary.

NICOLAS TOLEDO-ZARAGOZA

He had come to Illinois to visit his family about two months ago, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

His family wanted him to stay permanently because of injuries he had suffered after being hit by a car a couple years ago during an earlier visit to Highland Park. The newspaper reported that he was hit by three bullets Monday and died at the scene.

His death left behind a large, loving family mourning his loss. One of his granddaughters, Xochil Toledo, organized an online fundraiser for his funeral expenses that has surpassed $130,000.

Nicolas was a “loving man, creative, adventurous and funny,” she wrote, describing him as a father of eight and grandfather to many. “I love you abuelito.”

EDUARDO UVALDO

For the Uvaldo family, like others in the Highland Park area, the Independence Day parade was an annual tradition, according to a GoFundMe page organized by his granddaughter.

When gunfire erupted from a rooftop along the parade route, Eduardo Uvaldo was shot in his arm and the back of his head. His wife, Maria, was struck in the head by bullet fragments and his grandson was shot in the arm, according to the fundraising page.

Eduardo Uvaldo was brought to the hospital where, after receiving treatment and evaluation from doctors, the family was told there was nothing left to do, Guzman wrote. A GoFundMe update shows he was taken off life support Tuesday.

Uvaldo died just before 8 a.m. on Wednesday at Evanston Hospital.

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Savage reported from Chicago and Venhuizen reported from Madison, Wisconsin. AP journalists Martha Irvine in Chicago and Heather Hollingsworth in Kansas City, Missouri, also contributed to this report.