Nicholas Toledo Wiki

                              Nicholas Toledo Biography

Who was Nicholas Toledo ?

Nicholas Toledo was at the parade with about 15 to 20 other relatives, including the older man’s sons, nieces and nephews, when he was fatally shot by the gunman.

One of the six people killed in Monday’s mass shooting at a Fourth of July parade outside Chicago was a 78-year-old grandfather and father of eight, relatives told The Post.


Elderly parade-goer Nicholas Toledo was at the celebration in Highland Park about 25 miles north of Chicago when a gunman shot him to death and opened fire on revelers from a roof, according to police and relatives of the victim.

“We are very upset, I am in shock,” Toledo’s granddaughter, Xochil Toledo, 23, told The Post by phone.


“It just feels like a dream, a scary dream.”

Family

Nicholas, originally from Mexico, had planned to attend the parade with a dozen family members, but he said Monday morning that he didn’t want to go because he was using a walker and was worried about his health, Xochil said.

“He was like, ‘No, I think I should stay, I’m in a walker, there’s going to be a lot of people, I don’t think I should go,’” Xochil recalled.


“My father and [aunt] were like, ‘How can we leave you here alone? We would never do that to you, it doesn’t matter if you’re in a wheelchair or a walker, we’ll still take you with us,’ and then the tragedy happened.”

The family was near the parade’s starting point, sitting on chairs they had left behind the night before to save their places, when gunfire erupted.

“When the parade started, I turned around to see [Grandpa’s] reaction, and I was so happy to be there, and then all of a sudden. we heard shots. We thought it was part of the parade. We didn’t know what was happening until we could feel our grandfather’s blood on us,” Xochil recalled.

“That’s when we all started to panic and throw ourselves on the floor. We all went our separate ways. We all didn’t know what to do, how to react, we were in shock, my grandfather’s corpse was right behind us, ”he continued.

“Our instinct was to flee the scene. My dad and one of my cousins ​​stayed behind, hugging his body.”

Many other family members were wounded in the gunfire, but none of them fatally, Nicolás’s son, Alejo Toledo, 51, said by phone.

Xochil said his grandfather was shot three times, but saved their lives in the process.

Death

“He was our lifesaver… In fact, I was sitting across from him along with all my cousins,” Xochil said as she burst into tears.

“We were all together, it was a family of about 10 or 15, and he was the only one who died. It could have been important, he took three bullets and those bullets could have been aimed at me or my boyfriend.”

Nicholas, who lived in Mexico, had been in Highland Park for the last two months visiting after not being able to see his family for two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This morning, he was actually talking about how happy he was to be with his children,” Xochil said.

“He was wonderful, he was a happy man… he loved drawing, he loved coloring books.”

Suspect


At least 24 people were injured, some seriously, in the shooting and the suspect remains at large.

Cops said he used a ladder to climb onto a roof overlooking the parade and opened fire with a “high-powered rifle.”

Five adults died at the scene and another succumbed to his injuries after being rushed to the hospital, Lake County Coroner Jennifer Banek said.

At least one child was taken to hospital in critical condition and many others suffered gunshot wounds to the abdomen and limbs, according to police.

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