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WTAE
February 17, 2014
The night 14-month-old Ryan Hacke was killed was nearly two decades ago, but for his family, it’s still a vivid, terrifying memory.
“It was just horror,” said Ryan’s father, Tom Hacke.
Tom Hacke was driving the car, with Ryan and his 3-year-old brother, Matthew, as passengers. They were stopped at a red light behind his wife, Mary Beth, in Homestead when Vaughn Mathis started shooting.
“There was just this ‘pop’ in the windshield of the car and the bullet actually grazed me, and I looked up and I saw the perpetrator standing on the corner with two hands on the gun, and he was just squeezing the trigger,” said Tom Hacke. “I just remember flames shooting out and my immediate reaction was to scream to my children ‘duck.'”
“The whole time I’m looking in my rear view mirror because everything went in slow motion, and I’m thinking, ‘Please don’t let anything happen to my husband and my babies,'” said Mary Beth Hacke.
Tom Hacke said when the gunfire stopped, he realized Ryan was hit in the eye.
“I was just trying to holler back to Ryan, holding his hand, saying, ‘Hold on, hold on, buddy. Just live, just hang on,” said Tom Hacke.
Mary Beth said walking into the emergency room was her most terrifying moment.
“I saw my husband on the floor, with only the wall to hold him up. My 3-year-old was on a chair with such fear in his eyes,” said Mary Beth Hacke. “A nurse was comforting him and I’m searching for Ryan, and I’m screaming, ‘Where is my Ryan?'”
Ryan died two days later. Vaughn Mathis was convicted of killing the boy, but 17 years later, he’s up for parole.
The Hackes have been collecting signatures on a petition and asking people to “like” their Justice for Ryan Hacke Facebook page. They will travel to Harrisburg Feb. 18 to make a statement to the parole board, asking it not to release the convicted killer.
They are one of the first in Pennsylvania to be allowed to address the parole board. In September 2013, the board began allowing victim impact statements.
The Hacke family said they will carry their petition, along with letters from the community, to make a statement. They said the community’s support has been their strength all of these years.
“I want to say ‘thank you’ from the bottom of my broken heart,” Mary Beth Hacke said.
