SHOW OFS UPPORT FOR LATE OFFICER BAUER’S DAUGHTER
Katarina Perez got Grace Bauer’s cellphone number on Sunday. She’s going to give her a call. Both of their dads were Chicago cops who were killed in the line of duty.
Perez was 9 when her father, Benjamin Perez, was fatally struck by a train while conducting narcotics surveillance along West Side Metra tracks in September 2002.
Grace, 13, is the daughter of CPD Cmdr. Paul Bauer, who was shot and killed on Feb. 13 while chasing an armed suspect with a lengthy criminal history.
Perez wants to be the conduit to a unique set of shoulders for Grace to lean on.
“There’s a couple other young ladies who have unfortunately had the same experience losing their father, and I think the joint effort of all of us getting together to be there for Grace is going to make a huge difference,” Perez said.
Sunday, Perez attended a Mass honoringCmdr. Bauer at the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police Lodge on West Washington. After the service, the two chatted briefly.
Membership numbers aren’t certain. It’s an informal group: the sons and daughters of Chicago police officers who died while on the job, Perez said.
“There’s a lot of us, unfortunately,” Perez said.
Grace, and her mother, Erin, declined to speak to reporters Sunday after the Mass. Five days earlier, Erin published a letter expressing her family’s appreciation for the warmth they had received.