Highland Park teen grazed by a bullet in Fourth of July shooting says a cop told her to find a ride to the hospital because 'there weren't enough ambulances for everyone hurt'

• A teenager who was grazed by a bullet during the Highland park mass shooting spoke to Insider.
• She said that all ambulances were treating victims, and a cop told her to find a ride to a hospital.

A Highland Park shooting victim whose face was grazed by a bullet told Insider that the scene at the town's Fourth of July parade was so chaotic that a police officer recommended she get a ride to the hospital because all deployed ambulances were busy treating victims.

Lilli, 18, was among the two dozen parade-goers injured in the mass shooting where at least seven people died. The teen, whose last name is known to us but we are not using for safety reasons, is now coping with the day's trauma as her wounds heal.

"I got hurt, but I'll heal," Lilli told Insider. "So many people and so many families will never heal from this or any of the other hundreds of mass shootings that are happening in the US."

Lilli had gone to the parade for years, but wasn't initially planning to go this year. At the last minute on July 4, she joined her cousin and her cousin's boyfriend. They first attended the "Pets and Kids" portion of the parade around 9 a.m., before watching floats during the main stretch of the parade. By around 10:30 a.m., the shooting started.

"A few floats had passed, along with the high school marching band, then there was a big gap when there was no one on the road in front of us," Lilli told Insider. "All of a sudden I saw sparks on the ground and popping noises."

The shooter, armed with a rifle, was charged with 7 counts of first-degree murder.

Lilli told Insider that at first she thought the noises were firecrackers, but she noticed other people ducking and running. Then, she felt something touch her face and ran as far as she could.

"I felt something hit my face – I keep comparing it to being hit with a BB pellet or a small rubber ball – and that's when I started running," Lilli said. "I didn't feel my injury because I was still in shock, but I was covered in blood."

When she reached safety inside a building, "people were asking if I was OK and what happened."

A police officer then gave Lilli gauze to tend to her facial injury and to stop the blood flow. Then, to her relief, she spotted a friend, who came to help her.

"The officer tried to drive me and my friend to either the hospital or an ambulance, but there was a firetruck blocking the road, forcing us to get out of the car and walk back to where we ran from – which had now become an area that so many people were receiving aid and being sent to the hospital," Lilli told Insider. "Another officer told me to find a ride to the hospital on my own, because there weren't enough ambulances for everyone hurt."

Lilli said that ultimately, her friend was able to drive her to a neighboring hospital, as they knew that Highland Park's main hospital would also be overwhelmed.

At the neighboring hospital, she received stitches for the bullet graze.

"Mentally, I don't know if it's all set in yet, but I'm going to slowly recover," Lilli said. "Something needs to change in our system, and soon, before more people are hurt and killed, and scarred for their entire lives."