Prayers For Carlos - Carlos Wilkerson aka "CJ"

It is with a heavy heart and prayers our family decided to establish this GoFundMe on behalf of Carlos Wilkerson. In less than a week after celebrating the new year, most individuals resume their weekly routines and begin following through with their resolutions. However, Carlos Wilkerson aka “CJ” or "Los", a young entrepreneur and college senior at Southeastern Louisiana University, boarded a flight from his home state of Louisiana to Florida on what seemed like a traditional business trip which led to an unthinkable event. Carlos is the sole owner of “Directed By Los” and hired to provide videography services for a music video.

During the evening hours of January 5, 2023 while at work, Carlos was outfitted with essential cameras and audio visual sound equipment (standard for any film crew). During this work assignment, Carlos and nine others were violently gunned down while filming in Florida. The end result after all gunshots were fired left six individuals shot with non life-threatening injuries and four requiring immediate medical attention. Carlos was among the critically injured. He was found motionless and shot twice at the scene by the local police and paramedics minutes after being gunned down.

Due to the extent of Carlos’ injuries, the paramedics decided it would be best to airlift Carlos to the closest Trauma and Intensive Care Unit (TICU) Hospital. This decision was instrumental in saving Carlos’ life. It has taken multiple emergency surgeries to eventually stabilize Carlos. After being shot twice, Carlos has been left with catastrophic spinal destruction along with extensive lung and liver damage. While he is heavily sedated on a ventilator in a medically induced coma in a Florida Trauma Intensive Care Unit, Carlos is fighting for every breath he takes.

Carlos is currently in Florida far away from his home in Louisiana, family, friends and college. Although Carlos is in Florida surrounded by his Parents, immediate family and girlfriend. Carlos is considered as “out of network” by definition from a coverage point of view per his health insurance company. Carlos’ parents are accumulating an insurmountable ledger of hospital charges which are also primarily deemed “out of network” for his life-saving surgeries and treatment. Most of these charges will not be covered under Carlos’ current health plan. All of this does not include medical air-lift transportation services back to Louisiana, additional surgeries, home health support, rehabilitation services and the list goes on. At this time, the projected length of stay to treat all of Carlos’ injuries are estimated over 2 to 3 months.

Prior to this horrific event, Carlos could often be found spending time with his family, girlfriend, friends, worshiping with his church family, playing with his dog and all things related to pursuing his videography skills within his business. Born and raised in Baton Rouge, Louisiana Carlos is a graduate of Central High School where he represented the Wildcats both academically and athletically before enrolling in Southeastern Louisiana University.

Carlos’ immediate family are navigating through searching for long term residential housing options in Florida to remain near the trauma hospital all while balancing appointments with physicians and expanding their knowledge surrounding the complex insurance details leading to their excessive medical bills. While the thought of immeasurable hospital bills are adding up, Carlos’ family is detached through this ordeal with his older and younger siblings left back home in Louisiana receiving care from extended family members and close friends.

In addition to praying for Carlos, we ask for your donation to assist with medical bills by making a donation of any size to our “Prayers For Carlos” GoFundMe page.

If you could also share this fundraiser link with your friends by clicking the “share” option after your donation, it would mean so much to our Wilkerson/O’Connor/Bonius family. The more people to hear about what happened to Carlos will allow us to reach our fundraising goal.

Bless You all and Thank you for supporting our “Prayers For Carlos” GoFundMe page.

#prayersforcarlos #miamishooting