(NewsNation) — After a woman was shot in Monday’s shooting at a parade in a Chicago suburb, two strangers shielded her 2-year-old daughter amid the chaos so the child’s father could go back to recuse his wife.
“I have to tell you his bravery is beyond anything I’ve ever witnessed in my entire life,” said Suzi Zelinsky. “He literally, when he handed his daughter to me, he went back into [what] seems to be still an active shooting zone.”
Dean and Suzi Zelinsky didn’t think twice about sheltering the child as shots rang out at the Highland Park Independence Day parade, after a man came from around the corner with his baby girl. He asked Suzi if she could take his daughter while he went back to find his wife.
“I said, of course, so I took her and I put her between me and the bench, the concrete,” Suzi said. “Then he disappeared.”
As he left, Suzi shouted out her name: “My name is Suzi Zelinsky. My name is Suzi Zelinsky.” She had no other way of contacting him during the mayhem.
The father came back moments later and asked if Suzi could watch over his daughter while he took his injured wife to a hospital. They exchanged numbers before the father left for his wife, again.
When it was safe to leave, the couple brought the little girl home with them until they could get reach the father. Hours later, one of the family’s friends picked the little girl up from the Zelinsky’s house.
Suzi shared that the mom who was shot is doing great, and that she is in communication with the girl’s father.