Leaders of Greater St. John Bible Church and The Leaders Network are offering a $10,000 reward for any information that leads to identifying who killed Tracey Showers, a beloved wife, mother of three and member of the Austin church.
On Tuesday, Showers was outside her Austin home after picking up her daughter Janea Kitchen when someone fired shots, said her husband, Pernell Showers. Kitchen was not hurt but her mother received a shot to the face and later died at Loyola Hospital in Maywood.
At a press conference Wednesday, Rev. Ira Acree, pastor of St. John’s, 1256 N. Waller, called on anyone with information to come forward, offering a $5,000 reward for information that leads to finding whoever is responsible for her death.
“Ms. Tracey Showers could be any of our wives, our daughters, sisters,” Acree said.
Rev. Marshall E. Hatch, co-chair of the Leaders Network, and pastor of New Mt. Pilgrim MB Church, doubled the reward on behalf of the faith-based organization both Hatch and Acree are part of. Hatch said “there will be nowhere for that person to hide” as he urged the public to bring any information to the Chicago Police Department.
“She was tirelessly working to make sure everyone had something,” Pernell Showers said, adding he often helped his late wife distribute food, clothes and personal care items to people experiencing homelessness. She also mentored young people.
Kitchen said her mother was an amazing woman who “loved her church, loved her family, and loved everyone she came in contact with.”
Showers was a “great friend” to many of her fellow church members, including Ald. Chris Taliaferro (29th). Speaking at the news conference, Taliaferro vowed to “do everything in his power” to help find the person responsible for Shower’s “senseless murder” adding he will beg the Chicago Police Department to solve this murder, he said. “We lost a good one here,” he said. “Tracey’s heart is beyond incomparable.”
The Chicago Police Department is investigating the incident, a police spokesperson said.
“I can’t see moving on with no answers,” Showers said.
