MUSKEGON, Mich. — Veronica “Roni” Bowers was described as a “perfect mother,” a Peruvian missionary who was holding her newly adopted infant daughter on her lap when bullets ripped through their airplane.
Bowers, 35, and her daughter, Charity, died in the attack, which officials said was launched by a Peruvian air force jet whose pilot mistook the missionaries for drug dealers.
Bowers’ husband, Jim, 35, and their 6-year-old son, Cory, weren’t injured. The pilot, Kevin Donaldson, was wounded.
Jim Bowers and his son were planning to return to the United States on Saturday, said the Rev. Bill Rudd, the minister of the family’s church in Michigan.
“I don’t know how Jim is going to survive without her,” family friend Scott Schaub said. “She was his more gentle side. She was hospitable to everyone. She was a perfect mother.”
Veronica Bowers was holding her daughter on her lap when a bullet struck her in the back, said the pilot’s wife, Bobbi Donaldson. The group was returning from Brazil, where they had picked up a Peruvian residency visa for Charity, she said.
She told The Associated Press that her husband was shot in the leg and lost control of the single-engine plane, which was in flames. Donaldson still managed to guide the aircraft into the Amazon river, where it flipped over.
Peru’s air force issued a statement early Saturday confirming the incident. The statement said the plane entered Peruvian air space from Brazil without filing a flight plan and that it was fired upon to force it down after the pilot failed to identify himself.
The Bowers had been missionaries since 1983 and were with the Association of Baptists for World Evangelism, said the Rev. E.C. Haskell, spokesman for the group, which is based in New Cumberland, Pa. They operate their Peruvian mission from a houseboat in the Amazon, he said.
In Lima and other cities, the group runs a theological seminary, schools, a camp and a center for pregnant women.
The pilot, a native of Morgantown, Pa., was a second-generation missionary who has worked for the organization since 1985, Haskell said.
Rudd said a memorial service is being planned.
