Family members say Vera, who was known to law enforcement, lost his way after the death of his mother.
Raul Vera and his sister, Virginia Saez, in a photo taken last Thanksgiving.SPRINGFIELD – The sisters of Raul E. Vera, who was fatally shot on the night of July 3, say he was a kind-hearted man who lost his way following the death of their mother 10 years ago.
“Our brother had a heart of gold,” Celines Saez, 41, said of her little brother. “He would give you the shirt off his back without thinking. If he had a dollar, you would have 50 cents of it.”
Vera, nicknamed Baby by friends and family, was known for his sense of humor, his talent as a singer and his sensitivity to those in need, his sisters say.
But the 38-year-old Vera had a darker side. Sgt. John M. Delaney said Vera had a lengthy record with the department that included drug charges, had gang ties and was released from prison three months ago. Vera was last arrested on May 14 for breaking and entering.
Vera, shot once in the neck in the area of 66 Lincoln St., marked the city’s 9th homicide of the year. He was the father of four adult children “They are beyond devastated,” Virginia Saez, Vera’s 42-year-old sister, said.
Since then, two other Springfield residents, 16-year-old Tyrel Wheeler and 18-year-old James Rosario Jr., have lost their lives to gun violence. Arrests in the three slayings have yet to be made.
Delaney said the department treats all homicides seriously, regardless of the victim’s past. “We don’t want any death and any death is treated the same, no matter who the victim is,” he said.
Vera’s sisters acknowledge their brother’ darker side and said it was fueled by the death of their mother, Ada Marie Vera, a strong woman and longtime activist within the Latino community.
07.11.2011 | SPRINGFIELD – From left to right, sisters Celines Saez, Virginia Saez and Charity Vera sit with a photo of their brother, Raul E. Vera. Raul was killed in a July 3 shooting on Lincoln Street in Springfield.“He couldn’t recover from the loss of our mother, she was his guide” 29-year-old Charity Vera said. “He really went downhill after that.”
“I remember him telling me that he had nothing left to live for,” Virginia Saez said.
The sisters declined to elaborate on the troubled part of their brother’s life, but each said that it shouldn’t define him. “It’s not who he was, but it’s a part of his story,” Celines Saez said.
The three women say they believe police are quick to apply the label of gang member to crime victims like their brother, and that such a label can obscure the full measure of the life that was lost.
“These people are real, there was a life there,” said Virginia Saez.
Funeral services for Vera will be held at 11 a.m. Friday at Third Baptist Church, 149 Walnut St.