PILSEN — On a hot August night in 2003, a single, stray 9 mm bullet changed Maria Mateo's life forever.
A mother of five, Mateo was watching her children play with neighbors down the block when a loud popping noise filled the air.
At first, she thought she heard firecrackers. Then, she noticed her youngest daughter, seven-year-old Ana Mateo, laying on the ground.
"I thought maybe she fell," Mateo said in Spanish this week.
In reality, Ana Mateo was hit in the back of the head by a stray bullet, caught in gang crossfire as members of a Pilsen gang called the Party People tried to ambush a member of the Satan Disciples near the cul-de-sac at 18th Place and Leavitt Street. Ana later died.
Three mothers who have lost children to gang violence — Maria Mateo, a parishioner at St. Pius V in Pilsen; Doris Hernandez, of St. Agnes of Bohemia Church in Little Village; and Maria Chavez, of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Back of the Yards — shared their deeply personal stories at an On the Table discussion at St. Paul Catholic Church Tuesday.
Today, Mateo spends time sharing her story with parents, hoping her impact will keep Latino kids from joining gangs and becoming part of the cycle of violence. Sharing her story helps, and she hopes it will make a difference.
"I talk with parents about the importance of being better parents," Mateo said. And kids living on the city's Southwest Side need to feel like they have options to succeed. "We have to organize ourselves [to fight] for a better education system," she said.
Sponsored by The Resurrection Project and The Chicago Sunday Evening Club, the Tuesday luncheon brought together 100 neighbors to discuss ways to stop gang violence and promote peace throughout the city's Southwest Side.
Coinciding with Mexico's official observance of Mother's Day, the Tuesday event also aimed to honor Latino mothers who have not only lost children to violence, "but are working tirelessly for peace and social change in their communities,” said Henry Cervantes, The Resurrection Project's Safety Organizer.
[Luiz Magana, The Resurrection Project]
'She's always there'
As seven-year-old Ana Mateo — born days after her family crossed into the U.S. from Tijuana, Mexico — lay on the ground, her mother jumped into action, running to her daughter's side.
She picked her daughter up. Neighbors called an ambulance, and Ana was transported to Mt. Sinai Hospital and then transferred to Children's Memorial Hospital.
"It wasn't until I got to the hospital, they told me she had been shot," Maria Mateo said. Later, Ana was pronounced dead.
"After it happened, I was in denial. It felt like it didn't happen, that I was in a dream," she said. In time, Maria Mateo grew angry.
Weeks passed, and despite the devastating loss, Maria was able to connect with other mothers who had experienced tragedy at the hands of gang members.
Over the last 13 years, she's watched her four other children celebrating their own milestones, graduating high school, going off to college. Her siblings grow older, becoming adults, but Ana is perpetually seven years old.
"It's not easy, but we always say, 'oh, if Ana was still here.' She's always there in our conversations," Maria Mateo said. "We take her cake [to her grave site] every year on her birthday. We'll play the music that she used to listen to when she was younger."
And she prays.
"Everyday, I pray for my children, and I ask Ana to pray for her siblings because she is closer to God," Mateo said.
Then-19-year-old Juan Garcia, Ana Mateo's killer, was convicted in the murder in 2006.
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