Suburban mom went from a fun night with friends to being paralyzed by a random bullet

Tara Lungariello Rackley’s legs were dead weight. It was getting harder and harder to breathe. She willed herself to stay awake as she lay in an ambulance bound for UC Davis Medical Center.

“I love you and the boys no matter what,” Rackley said in a text message to her husband, Frank.

“I’ve been shot.”

Minutes earlier, she had been sitting in the back seat of a car driven by one of her friends. Their night out was ending, and they were at a stoplight near the Garden Highway ramp to southbound Interstate 5, heading toward a friend’s home. Suddenly, gunshots blasted through their car from another vehicle, and Rackley’s life was forever changed.

A bullet tore through her kidneys and liver, fractured her ribs and collapsed her lungs.

It lodged in her spine, leaving her numb from the waist down.

“In the movies, every time someone closes their eyes they die,” Rackley said. “So I tried to keep my eyes open. I just wanted to make it through the night.”

Three weeks later, Rackley, 25, is trying to navigate life without the ability to walk. The bullet remains in her back, too close to her heart to safely remove surgically. It may be with her forever.

With the help of therapists at a Roseville rehabilitation facility, she is learning how to get in and out of a wheelchair, a car, a shower and a bed. Her bright smile and sunny attitude are an inspiration to her caregivers, friends and family members.

But deep inside, Rackley worries. How will her family pay for the many things she will need to be stable and productive?

She and her husband and two young sons will have to move from their upstairs apartment in Carmichael into a home that has showers, sinks, hallways and bedrooms that she can access in her wheelchair. She will need a car that she can maneuver with hand controls. She will need a new bed, a shower chair and other expensive equipment and supplies for the rest of her life. She is unsure whether her catastrophic medical bills will be fully covered by insurance.

All of these worries are complicated by the fact that the person who nearly killed her remains at large. Police do not know who shot Rackley on Sept. 7 shortly after 10 p.m., or the reason for the attack. Detectives are investigating, and looking for the public’s help in solving the crime, said Sacramento Police Department spokeswoman Linda Matthew.

Rackley does not want to dwell on the events of that night, she said. She continues to battle a wide range of emotions, including anger and grief. But mostly, she is grateful to be alive.

“I hope the police find that person, and that he goes to jail,” she said, sitting on the patio of the rehabilitation hospital after a therapy session. “I’m angry about what happened to me, but most importantly I am alive and I get to see my kids grow up and I can be there for them.”

On the night of the shooting, Rackley said, she and her friends were returning from a night out. She declined to provide details of their plans or activities, saying she feared jeopardizing the police investigation. They were returning home when they were attacked by seemingly random gunfire.

Matthew, the police spokeswoman, said detectives have yet to determine whether the shooting was a case of mistaken identity or related to gang activities, road rage or any other possible motive. She said the agency had no information that it could release about possible suspects.

“Our investigators are still working the case,” she said.

Rackley, meanwhile, is living at the Roseville rehabilitation facility, laboring three or four hours a day on tasks that, just a few weeks ago, did not require a second thought.

On a recent afternoon, wearing large bangle earrings and impeccable makeup, she worked with therapist Allison Pieracci Yurasek on getting in and out of a car from a wheelchair.

The “car” was a makeshift model inside a large, brightly lit therapy room.

“The first time you do this, it will take you about 30 minutes,” Yurasek warned. Rackley raised her eyebrows and smiled.

She maneuvered her chair near the car and, with a narrow wooden board as a bridge, slid her bottom into the front seat. Her therapist helped her lift her legs inside. Beads of sweat formed on Rackley’s forehead.

“OK, I’m in the car, guys!” she said triumphantly.

But the work had just begun. Rackley had to disassemble her lightweight wheelchair and place it, piece by piece, inside the car. Then, with visible effort and help from Yurasek, she put the chair back together and slid out.

“It’s not easy,” Rackley said. “Actually, it’s really hard.”

As her mother-in-law, Lisa Turknett, stood by, Rackley moved onto gym exercises designed to strengthen her upper body and arms.

Turknett said the family still is coming to terms with what has transpired.

“We’re three weeks into this, and we’re just starting to get our minds around it,” she said. “How did this happen? We’re baffled. She doesn’t have any enemies.”

Rackley’s husband, Frank, was her first love. They met at John Barrett Middle School in Carmichael. After graduating high school, they married and had two children, Vinni, 5, and Tonee, 3.

Frank Turknett works for his family’s auto repair shop in Carmichael. Rackley was a full-time receptionist at a medical office at the time of the shooting, and also held down a part-time job.

The couple’s blond-haired boys, who have been visiting her regularly at the rehab hospital, are too young to understand their mother’s situation.

“We’ve told them that Mommy’s legs don’t work right now,” Rackley said. Vinni recently presented his mom with a picture he had drawn of his mother sitting in a wheelchair.

Rackley is not ruling out “a miracle” that would allow her to walk again, she said. But she also is a realist.

“I’m accepting of what the doctors have told me,” she said. “They’ve seen this kind of thing before, and they know what they’re doing.”

She described herself as optimistic by nature. But immediately after learning her prognosis, she said, “I was very sad. I cried a lot. It’s impossible to explain what goes through your mind when you’re told you are not going to walk again. You don’t want to believe it.”

She still has her “down” days, she said. But her upbeat attitude is not an act.

“I have amazing family support, great friends and lots of love,” she said. “I’m so grateful for that.”

Yes, life has changed. But Rackley can see brightness in the future: raising her boys, going back to work, hanging out with friends, spending holidays with her family.

“We’re moving mountains right now,” said Rackley. “I’m going to wheel myself right out of here and move on and be happy.”

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A GoFundMe campaign has been established to help pay for Tara Rackley’s expenses. To contribute, go to: https://www.gofundme.com/walk-tara-home

Sacramento police are asking for anyone who has information about the shooting to call 916-264-5471 or 916-443-4357, or send tips anonymously via the P3 Tips smartphone app.

This story was originally published September 28, 2018 at 3:45 AM.