Highland Park shooting victims say they are fighting back as they cope day-by-day

Three months after the July 4 shooting in Highland Park, Lauren Bennett stood before a bank of cameras and described what it was like to feel two bullets sear her body that day.

“Imagine a hot, metal, dart-like projectile, tearing through your body … faster than the speed of sound,” Bennett said, her hands shaking as she clutched her script.

She was speaking at a press conference organized by her team of lawyers to announce a set of lawsuits. They are accusing the alleged shooter, his father, gun-maker Smith & Wesson and two firearm dealers of being responsible for the violence that erupted at the Independence Day parade that killed seven and wounded dozens of others.

Despite her nerves, Bennett said it felt therapeutic to speak up.

“There was something kind of easy about it because it’s my words, my truth,” the 41-year-old Highland Park resident told WBEZ several days later.

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