'We Are All Survivors': Hundreds Attend Highland Park City Hall Vigil

HIGHLAND PARK, IL — Hundreds of people attended a candlelight vigil outside Highland Park City Hall Thursday in remembrance of the seven people who were shot and killed 10 days earlier at the city's July 4th parade.

Mayor Nancy Rotering said countless children and other community members have been traumatized by the shooting, which was caused by a "hateful and cowardly" gunman armed with an assault weapon.

"The trauma of gun violence doesn’t end when the shooting stops. Experiencing gun violence in our community has a lasting impact on us — we are all survivors," Rotering told the assembled crowd. "Each of us will have a different experience and a different timeline as we find a way to move forward into our new normal. It is incumbent upon each and every one of us to honor those taken and those injured with action — whatever that might mean to you and yours."

Before lighting candles, the mayor read the names of the seven people who died after being shot around 10:15 a.m. on July 4, when more than 80 bullets were fired into the crowd from a rooftop overlooking the parade.

Katie Goldstein, Irina McCarthy, Kevin McCarthy, Jacki Sundheim and Nicolas Toledo-Zaragoza died at the scene. Steve Straus died later that day at Highland Park Hospital, and Eduardo Uvaldo was pronounced dead the following morning at Evanston Hospital. Cooper Roberts, an 8-year-old boy who was shot in the abdomen and suffered a severed spine, remained in critical condition 10 days later.

"As we face the ugly truth of what happened here, we are reminded of the fragility and vulnerability of life. It forces us to put things in perspective, challenges us to expand our understanding of how things work, and connects us with one another in profound ways," Rotering said.

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"We will keep those murdered in our hearts and in our minds as we work to resolve that this evil attack will not define who we are, nor will it define how we treat each other," she said, in remarks that were also read in Spanish. "We will recognize our common humanity as we live our lives. We acknowledge that the intensity of our grief and suffering represents the depth of our love we hold for our neighbors and our hometown."

The vigil, the first since the shooting to be held outside City Hall, featured remarks from local Jewish and Christian clergy.

"It is hard to speak of healing when we are in these depths. It may be true for a long time to come," said Rabbi Isaac Serotta, of Makom Solel Lakeside congregation in Highland Park.

"It will be a long time before we can walk these streets or in any time without looking to the rooftops for danger from above," Serotta said. "It will be a long time before we can say the name Highland Park to someone who asks us where we come from without hearing their saddened, knowing 'Oh' — the way we do when we hear names like Columbine and Newtown."

Rev. Quincy Worthington, of Highland Park Presbyterian Church, invoked the dream of the nation's Founders and Martin Luther King Jr. in calling for a world where children are free from fear and dehumanization.

"Let us go from here not thinking this is over now, that this service somehow brings some end," Worthington said. "But in knowing that now our hard work begins, of protecting and caring for our sisters and brothers from the avenues of Highland Park to the streets of Englewood, from the shores of Lake Michigan to the banks of the Rio Grande, from the 'Bean' in downtown Chicago to the 'bean-heads' in Washington, D.C.," he said.

"Now, when our legitimate differences threaten to tear us apart, let our universal commonality bind us together that much stronger."

The City Hall candlelight vigil came a day after U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Highland Park) led a moment of silence on the House floor to honor the victims.

"These beautiful people were the center of the universe for their families, and pillars of strength for their communities. They were loving parents and grandparents, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters. They had personal passions and diverse interests, and all loved life. Each one had a special spark that will still burn bright within the people who knew and loved them," Schneider said.

"In standing and honoring them, we also confront the fact that, as Rabbi Wendy Geffen poignantly said at one of the funerals, 'we should not have to be here,'" the congressman added. "Yet here we are, giving sorrowful remarks and moments of silence, time and time and time again. Everyday, in communities across America, we needlessly lose 111 lives to gun violence. No community is left untouched."

The Highland Park City Council, which met for an emergency meeting at Councilmember Tony Blum's home on the morning of the shooting, canceled its meeting that had been scheduled for Monday. It is next due to meet for a special meeting on July 25.

More Patch coverage of the Highland Park July 4 Parade shooting