Teenage girl receives chilling call after parents are shot, wounded in Highland Park massacre
HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. (CBS) -- On Monday, July 4th, a teenage girl got a chilling call.
Her parents had been shot.
Those parents, Mike and Marcia Moran, were at the July 4th parade in Highland Park. They attend the parade every year – but this was the first year their two teenage kids elected to stay home.
The Morans were sitting on a park bench when the shots rang out. That scene is still frozen in time for them – and the family is changed forever.
"My mind can't make sense of it," Marcia Moran told CBS 2's Marissa Perlman.
Ms. Moran can't make sense of how she and her husband escaped the Highland Park parade shooting alive. They had been sitting on a bench – with the shooter directly above them – when the shots rang out.
"Within - I don't know - a millisecond, my husband – I think I still have the bruise here - grabbed my really quick and yanked me out of there and started running," she said.
Ms. Moran said her husband, a veteran, recognized the difference between gunshots and fireworks.
"My left foot was covered with blood," Ms. Moran said. "My husband was bleeding really bad from the knee down."
They rushed to their car to get to the emergency room.
"I turned to the left, and I had seen that people had been killed, and I realized they were literally just feet from us," Ms. Moran said.
Their kids missed the parade for the first time in years, but still, this tragedy now leaves a lasting impact on their daughter, Peyton.
"I texted my mom, then I called her, and then she told me that she and my dad were shot," Peyton said. "I couldn't breathe. I couldn't think."
Peyton published a letter to her community. She calls it "the worst day of her life."
"You don't expect it to be your hometown until it is," Peyton said.
And at just 18, Peyton says she is always looking for exits.
"I always like to have an escape plan," she said.
It is a sad reality for a young woman growing up when mass shootings are part of life.
"To really experience one, like, in my hometown, it was very – a different feeling," Peyton said.
Peyton's parents and friends were trapped. But she was able to hug her parents Monday night, realizing how lucky she is.
"I was really glad to see them come home, because I know sadly, that wasn't the case for everyone," she said. "I just really hope to see change."
Marcia Moran said she is beyond grateful for the support in Highland Park, and across the country, that her family and other victims of the shooting are seeing. She said it keeps her strong and keeps her going.