Woman looking for help after shooting recovery

FREMONT — Three months after being shot in the chest during a domestic dispute, a Fremont woman hopes to find a new home, work and money to pay bills and buy groceries to support her 3-year-old daughter.

Chelsea Vasquez, 21, was shot in the chest May 30 during a domestic altercation with boyfriend, Devin Liggins, who shot and killed himself. Her recovery from her injuries and two surgeries to remove her spleen, part of her pancreas and half her liver is continuing each day with physical therapy three times a week.

But finding housing and paying a large stack of bills has been even more challenging and has begun to take a toll on Vasquez and her mother, Candy Rodriguez.

Vasquez is trying to move from the Bidwell Avenue home owned by her mother because it represents the place she was shot at and the loss of the boyfriend’s life.

“She hasn’t gotten any subsidized housing. It is very difficult for her to be at my home where (the shooting) happened,” Rodriguez said.

After being accepted for food stamps, Vasquez was later denied because she was living with her mother and younger than age 22. Rodriguez also made too much money for the group to qualify.

“We may have to say she is homeless to get food stamps,” Rodriguez said.

Rodridguez said she is supporting Vasquez and her daughter, Kamiya, along with two other people in her Bidwell Avenue home.

“(Getting financial assistance) takes a while,” Rodriguez said. “It takes fourth months for the Crime Victims Fund, Social Security and disability.”

Vasquez said the family needs money to help pay for bills, gas to get her to physical therapy and food and items for Kamiya.

“It’s frustrating because there are people out there that get help and don’t need the help. I just hate to see my mom struggle,” Vasquez said.

Vasquez and Liggins were alone in the room together when family members heard two gunshots, one in the chest of Vasquez, the other to the head of Liggins, who died 19 days later.

Fremont Police Department Detective Jason Kiddey was never able to interview Liggins. But he said Vasquez’s statements “were consistent with the evidence located at the scene and processed by (the Bureau of Criminal Investigation).”

Before the incident, Vasquez was a waitress at Frickers in Fremont, where she made enough money to support herself and Kamiya, Rodriguez said.

Because the bullet is still lodged in her pelvis after it traveled downward from her chest, Rodriguez said her daughter cannot be a waitress and can barely lift 15 pounds.

“Her left leg gives out. She constantly has lower back and hip pain and tingling from fingers to toes in her left side,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez said Frickers has offered to help Vasquez by allowing her to be a hostess or offering her a chair to sit in while doing food prep work. Vasquez wants to be stronger physically first.

Since coming home, Vasquez said she has tried staying busy and returning to a normal life, which has been challenging because she is living in the same house where she and Liggins were shot.

“Since before all this, Devin was all I had. We did everything together. You cut off everyone to be a part of him,” she said. “He was my only friend.”

Despite the domestic dispute, Vasquez recalls Liggins as a being a good father, and the love of her life that she had a crush on since third grade. She’s reflected on their good times, including pulling pranks on each other and running around the house having squirt gun fights.

Emotionally, Rodriguez said her daughter can no longer sleep in the room where she was shot. What once was a place Vasquez felt loved in now is a daily reminder of the shooting and the loss of the man she loved.

“We camp out in the living room. (Vasquez) sleeps on a toddler mattress,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez said the bills continue to pile up, and being the only source of income is making more difficult to provide for her family.

“We both cry daily and just wish for life to get easier. We are just lost.”

cshoup@gannett.com

419-334-1035

Twitter: CraigShoupNH

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For people who are looking to help, an online fundraiser has been set up at www.gofundme.com/t62ma3dh.