'I had to do exactly what I did:' Woman helped rescue 2-year-old boy whose parents were killed in Highland Park parade massacre
HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. (CBS) -- We heard for the first time Thursday from the woman who helped save a little boy named Aiden McCarthy, who was found trapped under his dad at the Highland Park July 4th Parade.
Aiden's mom and dad, Irina and Kevin McCarthy, were both shot and killed in the massacre at the parade.
CBS 2's Jackie Kostek talked over the phone to the woman who found 2-year-old Aiden, and tried so hard to reunite him with his family.
Lauren Silva said she doesn't feel like a hero, and wishes she could have done more. But she says she's grateful that Aiden is physically OK, and that she was there to play a small role in caring for him in an unthinkable moment.
Silva said she was with her boyfriend and her boyfriend's son Monday morning. They weren't going to the parade - they were heading to breakfast, and were still in the stairwell of the parking garage when the shots rang out.
Just after shooting stopped, Lauren Silva, her boyfriend Tom, and his son Morgan made their way out of the parking garage stairwell and onto the parade route. Tom and Morgan first, Lauren followed.
"Morgan said, 'Dad, there's a boy under there,'" Silva said.
It was Aiden, trapped under his father's body.
"He would have suffocated – 100 percent, he would have suffocated," Silva said.
Silva, a mother of two young boys herself, held the boy.
"When I first took him and he kept saying, 'Are my mom and dad OK?' I said, 'Everyone's OK.' "Is my momma and dadda coming back?' I said 'Yes, everyone's fine,'" Silva said. "I had to parent him. I had to tell him it was fine when it wasn't fine."
At the time, Silva says she didn't know where Aiden's mother was, or if either parent would make it. She brought Aiden back to the parking garage, trying to shield him from the ugliness.
At one point, she says she asked another couple, Greg and Dana Ring, to watch Aiden so she could check on Kevin McCarthy, Aiden's father. That's when she was told he hadn't made it.
"I could feel my insides start to shake. I went behind their car and I could feel the beginning part of a panic attack. I was not holding Aiden. so I went behind the car. My hands started shaking, and I collected myself and I did what you're not supposed to do with a panic attack - and I did not feel it through," Silva said, "because I knew where it would go."
In the days since, Silva says she can't yet feel the entirety of what happened - just one singular moment.
"All I keep feeling is me passing him on to Greg, and the regret that I have letting him go - that I shouldn't have let him go, that I should have held on to him," Silva said.
In her logical mind, Silva says she knows she did the right thing. But giving Aiden up felt like giving up control.
"Logically, I knew my limitations," Silva said. "I didn't have a car, I didn't have my phone, and I know this kid needs to get out of here."
The Rings kept watch over Aiden for hours until he was finally reunited with his grandparents.
Silva says she is thankful her own children weren't with her Monday morning, and she doesn't know how she would have reacted if they had been. Still, she's left wondering how to answer the questions her 7-year-old is asking.
"Did I help the little boy that lost his parents? And then he asked if we found his parents," Silva said, "I had to do exactly what I did for Aiden. I had to parent. I had to tell him things that weren't true, and decide what was protecting and what was being honest."
Silva says this is the moment that community rises to become family.
"You accept love. You accept kindness," she said, "not only because you don't have a choice but because you need it."
Silva has since spoken to members of Aiden's family, who thanked her for caring for their boy. A GoFundMe posted Tuesday to raise money for Aiden has raised nearly $3 million.