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Aiden McCarthy's photo was shared across Chicago-area social media groups in the hours after the July 4 parade shooting in Highland Park, accompanied by pleas to help identify the two-year-old who had been found at the scene bloodied and alone and to reunite him with his family.
On Tuesday, friends and authorities confirmed that the boy's parents, Kevin McCarthy, 37, and Irina McCarthy, 35, were among seven people killed in the tragedy.
"At two years old, Aiden is left in the unthinkable position; to grow up without his parents," wrote Irina Colon on a GoFundMe account she created for the family and Aiden, who was reunited with his grandparents on Monday evening.
Friends of the McCarthys said Irina's parents would care for the boy going forward.
Four of other others who were killed were identified Tuesday as Katherine Goldstein, 64; Jacquelyn Sundheim, 63; Stephen Straus, 88; and Nicolas Toledo-Zaragoza, 78.
Every victim was from Highland Park except for Toledo-Zaragoza, who was visiting family in the city from Morelos, Mexico.
Officials haven't yet identified the seventh victim.
Portraits of some of those who died began to emerge on Tuesday as investigators continued to search for evidence in the shooting that killed at least seven and wounded 30.
Irina McCarthy's childhood friend, Angela Vella, described McCarthy as fun, personable and "somewhat of a tomboy" who still liked to dress up.
"She definitely had her own style, which I always admired," Vella said in a short interview.
Straus, a Chicago financial adviser, was one of the first observers at the parade and attended it every year, his grandchildren said.
Brothers Maxwell and Tobias Straus described their grandfather as a kind and active man who loved walking, biking and attending community events.
"The way he lived life, you'd think he was still middle-aged," Maxwell Straus said in an interview.
The two brothers recalled Sunday night dinners with their grandparents as a favourite tradition. They said they ate with him the night before he was killed.
"America's gun culture is killing grandparents," said Maxwell Straus. "It's very just terrible."
Sundheim, meanwhile, was regaled as a lifelong congregant and "beloved" staff member at North Shore Congregation Israel in Illinois, where she had worked for decades, the Reform synagogue said on its website.
Sundheim taught at the synagogue's preschool and coordinated events including bar and bat mitzvah ceremonies.
"Jacki's work, kindness and warmth touched us all," synagogue leaders wrote in a message on their website.
"There are no words sufficient to express the depth of our grief for Jacki's death and sympathy for her family and loved ones."
Toledo-Zaragoza was killed on what his 23-year-old granddaughter, Xochil Toledo, said was supposed to be a "fun family day" that "turned into a horrific nightmare for us all."
On a GoFundMe page to raise money for Toledo's funeral expenses, Xochil Toledo said her grandfather was a "loving man, creative, adventurous and funny."
"As a family we are broken, numb," she said.
Toledo-Zaragoza 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 on Monday and died at the scene.
He wasn't sure he wanted to attend the parade because of the large crowds and his limited mobility, which required him to use a walker, but Xochil Toledo said the family didn't want to leave him alone.
US Vice President Kamala Harris said Americans need to understand that gun violence "can happen anywhere," during a visit to Highland Park, CNN reports.
"There's a lot of healing that's going to have to happen that is both physical and emotional. There's no question that this experience is something that is going to linger in terms of the trauma," Harris told members of the media gathered at the scene of the shooting in Highland Park.
"I'd like to urge all the families and all the individuals to do seek the support you so rightly deserve.
"Addressing gun safety in the United States, the vice president continued: "We've got to be smarter as a country in terms of who has access to what - and in particular assault weapons.
"We have to take this stuff seriously. As seriously as you are because you have been forced to take it seriously. The whole nation should understand and have a level of empathy to understand that this can happen anywhere, in any peace loving community."