Her Friends Were At the Highland Park Parade. First She Cried, Then She Sprang Into Action

Written by Dara Katz

July 11, 2022

She was at a Fourth of July parade in a neighboring town when her sister got a call from a friend in Highland Park. There was a shooting. Standing amid the cheers and celebration at a similar parade a few miles away, Kitty Brandtner, mom of three young children, couldn’t digest the news immediately. It was uncanny, like she was in a parallel universe or something. She had just been talking to her husband about looking into Toronto after the horrors of Uvalde. And now, the monster she feared had paid a visit too close to home. 

She cried for 24 hours, thought about Canada again, but her husband said they can’t just run from their home, their community. “Then what can we do?” she asked him, herself, anyone who would listen. 

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