Father Hides Son In A Dumpster While Fleeing Highland Park July 4th Parade Shooting

An alert father saved his five-year-old son from a mass shooting at the Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois on Monday.

Alexander Sandoval, 39, revealed that he attendee the celebration with his son, his partner, Amairani Garcia, and her five-year-old daughter, and their dog.

When the first gunshots went off, Sandoval thought that it was part of the Navy saluting the flag. Then moments later, people started running away and falling into the middle.

Sandoval and his partner fled in different directions with their children, seeking refuge amongst the chaos.

“I was punching the door but couldn’t punch through it,” he told the Chicago Sun-Times. “The shooting stopped. I guess he was reloading. So I kept running and ran into an alley and put my son in a garbage dumpster so he could be safe.”

After assuring his son’s safety, Sandoval reached Garcia and her daughter hiding at a nearby McDonald’s.

“This doesn’t happen here,” he said. “It shouldn’t happen anywhere.”

Authorities confirmed that six people were killed in the shooting and 12 were wounded.

After the massacre, the police arrested 22-year-old Robert E. Crimo III as a person of interest.