Wednesday 6 July 2022 10:45 PM Billionaire Bill Ackman donated $18,000 to toddler orphaned in Highland Park ... trends now

Billionaire Bill Ackman donated $18,000 to a fundraiser supporting the family of a two-year-old boy orphaned in the Highland Park parade shooting.

Aiden McCarthy, 2, survived the hail of bullets Monday after his father, Kevin McCarthy, shielded him with his own body.

Kevin and his wife, Irina McCarthy, were both among the seven people killed when a gunman opened fire on a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, an affluent Chicago suburb, with an AR-15-style weapon.

The crowdfunding page was established to help Aiden's grandparents with 'raising, caring for and supporting' him and has already raised over $2.5 million.

Confessed shooter Robert Crimo, 21, has been charged with seven counts of first-degree murder. 

Lake County State Attorney Eric Rinehart said Tuesday that 'dozens' more charges would follow and he hopes to send Crimo to prison for life.

More than 46,000 people have donated to the GoFundMe account established in Aiden's honor, including investor and hedge fund manager Bill Ackman.

The billionaire is the largest donor to date after making an $18,000 contribution to the fund. His office confirmed the donation to The Daily Beast on Tuesday.

The largest donation in the last few hours was a $10,000 contribution from an anonymous source. Most of the other high contributors are also anonymous. 

'At two years old, Aiden is left in the unthinkable position; to grow up without his parents,' GoFundMe organizer, Irina Colon, wrote on the page.

'Aiden will be cared for by his loving family and he will have a long road ahead to heal, find stability, and ultimately navigate life as an orphan.

'He is surrounded by a community of friends and extended family that will embrace him with love, and any means available to ensure he has everything he needs as he grows.' 

Aiden lost his mother, Irina, 35, and father, Kevin, 37, after being separated from them during the chaos of Monday's shooting. 

He was kept safe by complete strangers after Lauren Silva, 38, of Deerfield, and her boyfriend found him during the chaos.

Silva told The Daily Beast they emerged from a parking garage a few blocks away from the shooting just as the violence began to unfold.

'We were just opening the door to walk up the stairs and we heard it…boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom,' she told the Beast. 'And it sounded like someone was, like, pounding on the glass doors.' 

Silva and her boyfriend and his son began running toward those who were injured when her boyfriend suddenly thrusted the little boy into her arms.  

'My boyfriend handed me this little boy and said he was underneath this father who was shot in the leg,' she said. 'They were trying to stop the bleeding so I brought the boy downstairs into the garage.' 

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Once inside the garage, she managed to clean out his scrapes and washed the blood off him. She said he was wearing one shoe and his sock was covered in blood. 

'He kept asking if mom and dad are going to come back soon,' she said. 

Silva reemerged from the parking garage after 20 minutes to see how the father was doing. She handed Aiden off to a family she was hunkering down in the garage with, who took him to the hospital and later handed him to police. He was eventually reunited with his grandparents.

Dana Ruder Ring, who had taken care of the child until 8 p.m., according to Fox 32 Chicago, posted the original photo of the boy to help identify him. 

Silva, a mother of two, said she's holding on to the memory of the 'kid's face and his touch and the sound of his voice.' 

'I feel like I want to hold on to, like, a little bit of emotion that I feel—which is telling that boy that his dad was going to come back,' she said.

The gunman, Robert 'Bobby' Crimo began shooting with an AR-15-style weapon shortly after 10 a.m., from a rooftop along the parade route. 

Police said Tuesday that Crimo dressed as a woman to disguise himself and easily slipped into

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