After being critically wounded in a mass shooting in Chicago’s Portage Park neighborhood that killed her father and two others, Mariah Vera’s body has held on for two and a half years.
But her family says that time is running out, and they need help from the public. Vera’s family is preparing to move her to hospice care at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, and they are facing another hurdle — final medical and funeral costs.
Vera’s loved ones say she held on this long to give them time to learn to let go — a final kindness from a woman whose life was defined by love.
“How loving and kind she was, how giving, how selfless she was for anyone and anything,” said Vera’s aunt, Rebecca Dejesus.
That selflessness is how she ended up in the state she is now in. Family members said Vera was shot while trying to protect her father after an uninvited partygoer caused trouble at her 25th birthday party.
The shooting happened at 2:26 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 18, 2022, outside the Vera Lounge, at a family member’s bar at 3235 N. Central Ave. What should have been a celebration became a day that forever changed a family.
The Cook County State’s Attorney’s office said at the time that it all started at 2:20 a.m. that morning when someone hit Vera while she was celebrating her birthday. Her father Ricky Vera, 50, approached another man, Samuel Parsons-Salas, outside, and asked Parsons-Salas who hit his daughter, prosecutors said.
Parsons-Salas then retrieved a gun from a car and shot Ricky Vera in the head and chest, killing him, prosecutors said. Parsons-Salas then fatally shot family friend Mario Pozuelos, 26, who was standing nearby, prosecutors said.
He also shot Mariah Vera as she was kneeling over her wounded father and rendering aid to him. Mariah was hit in the head and was left in critical condition with bone fragments in her brain.
Prosecutors also alleged that Parsons-Salas then noticed Mercedes Tavares, 24, who was hiding behind a nearby white van. He approached her and shot her at close range, and as she lay wounded on the sidewalk, the suspect stood over her and shot her again, prosecutors said. Tavares also died.
“Lost my brother-in-law, my niece, a friend that day, and Mariah fought through,” said Dejesus. “As strong as she is, her time has come process slowly say goodbye.”
Though Mariah Vera’s body held on — and at times she opened her eyes — doctors told her family that brain function never returned.
An online fundraiser has been launched to collect money to cover her final medical bills and funeral costs.
Meanwhile, family has gathered at the hospital for someone who had so much love to give, so they can give her their love in return.
“She was just very loving,” said Mariah Vera’s cousin, Nevaeh Alicia. “She had a loving aura to her.”
Mariah Vera’s family says they expect these final days could cost another $20,000.
They also said Parsons-Salas was supposed to go to trial soon, but given the developments with Mariah, they expect that will be delayed and could increase the charges.