'Running through bullets': Highland Park resident recalls rushing to help victims last July 4

Shane Selig plans to be where he was last year on July 4 - in Highland Park, volunteering with the Community Emergency Response Team.

Members of the team, known as CERT, are trained to assist after natural disasters and help out with community events.

But a year ago, the Highland Park software engineering manager's training was put to the test in a way he never could have anticipated.

After the mass shooting at the community's Independence Day parade, Selig administered first aid to victims, three of whom had suffered fatal wounds. At one point, he tore apart an abandoned bag to get to diapers to use as bandages for beloved community member Jacki Sundheim, who ultimately died.

He remembers propping up a gunshot victim's leg on an abandoned lawn chair, placing his finger in another man's chest to slow his bleeding, and assisting people suffering from panic attacks, dehydration and minor injuries.

"I don't think that anything ... would have prepared me for running through bullets and trying to administer first aid," said Selig, who comes from a family of medical professionals and considered a career as a doctor.

On July 4 last year, Selig was assigned to a bike patrol, riding up and down the parade route to keep children from running into the street. After he heard the shots, he jumped off his bike and began administering aid.

At one point, a police officer held a riot shield above his head to protect him in case more shots came.

Later on, he assisted a woman who had sought safety inside the Walker Bros. Original Pancake House. She had hundreds of shards of glass sticking to her back.

"'Well, how much is this going to cost me?'" he remembers her asking. "She's sitting there bleeding as she is talking about that."

In visiting the many other businesses who took in parade spectators that morning, one thing that stuck out is how the children were better prepared than adults.

"They would say, 'Here, we hide under this table. Get away from that door.'"

Selig said he is still sorting out his experience and now has to think about how to raise a son where a mass shooting occurred just blocks away.

Selig hopes for a very different scene at this year's event, which will feature a memorial ceremony and remembrance walk, with the presence of metal detectors, drones and first responders from neighboring communities, but no parade.