Dr. Marcy Kamen told ABC News that she is eternally grateful that she and her family were able to make it out of the Highland Park, Illinois, parade mass shooting alive.
At the same time, the 60-year-old physician said that she mourns for the people who weren’t so fortunate and the loved ones they left behind.
Kamen was a longtime attendee at the parade and was there with her father, sister, niece and other relatives when shots rang out.
Kamen said she grabbed her niece and ran for cover while her sister stayed with her dad.
Dr. Marcy Kamen said her father was shot and the bullet nearly hit her during the July 4, 2022 mass shooting at the Highland Park, Illinois parade.
ABC News
“Very quickly there were so many police and helicopters and people screaming, and you [knew] that it wasn’t dead fireworks,” she told ABC News.
After Kamen made it to safety, she said she found out that her dad had been shot in the arm and transported to the hospital. He survived the shooting.
Dr. Marcy Kamen said her father was shot and the bullet nearly hit her during the July 4, 2022 mass shooting at the Highland Park, Illinois parade.
ABC News
“I did not know that when I left that my dad got shot and the bullet was six inches above my head,” she said. “I was on autopilot and took this kid and left.”
Seven people were killed during the shooting, Jacki Sundheim, Nicolas Toledo-Zaragoza, Stephen Straus, Katherine Goldstein, Eduardo Uvaldo, and couple Irina and Kevin McCarthy. The McCarthys left behind a two-year-old son who was with them at the parade .
Law enforcement search after a mass shooting at the Highland Park Fourth of July parade in downtown Highland Park, Ill., on Monday, July 4, 2022.
Nam Y. Huh/AP
Kamen said she feels remorse for those killed and prays for their families.
“There is a little bit of guilt of, ‘Oh why did they get killed and we made it,'” she told ABC News.
Kamen said she took solace in the outpouring of help and support she saw while fleeing the scene. From bystanders grabbing children to safety to first responders trying to keep people safe, she said she was amazed at how many people acted selflessly in a scary situation.
“I just hope people saw other people helping each other,” she said.