A North Carolina felon shot up the home of his now ex-girlfriend’s dad, sending the man to the hospital with serious injuries on June 20, 2023.
Michael Steven Ricker, 36, was charged with attempted first-degree murder, shooting into an occupied dwelling, and possession of a firearm by a felon. The shooting took place after Ricker beat up his girlfriend, Amber Rose, and fought with her father.
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That should be enough to keep a man in jail, right? Welcome to America, 2023.
Initially, Ricker was denied bond but 12 days later, bond was set at $25,000 and Ricker was sprung from the Catawba County jail. Then things got weird.
FACT-O-RAMA! Catawba County is in a solidly red part of North Carolina. it is not yet clear why Ricker — a felon — was released on bond considering the charges against him.
It appears Ricker, remarkably, was sharing a house in rural Maiden, N.C., with his girlfriend’s mother, Lesa Rose, 63, the estranged wife of the man Ricker shot over the summer. A neighbor referred to Ricker as a “serious lowlife.”
Several weeks ago, Amber Rose’s car was set on fire. No one was charged but the family believed Ricker was the culprit.
“We don’t have evidence and he [Ricker] won’t admit to it. But we know it was him. The car was burned to the ground,” Rose’s daughter, Amber Rose, revealed. “If you light someone’s car on fire at three o’clock in the morning, what’s stopping you from lighting their house on fire?”
Last week, Lesa Rose was found dead in her bathroom. Police responded to a call of a cardiac arrest but found what they labeled “wounds not consistent with a natural death.”
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The body of Lesa Rose was discovered by Amber Rose’s 17-year-old daughter.
🔫👿Michael Steven Ricker, 36, who attempted to murder ex-girlfriend’s father bonds out of jail, kills her mother 63-year-old
Lesa Armstrong Rose: police#ThemFolks#FacesOfcrimehttps://t.co/pRtolsDuVj pic.twitter.com/ezATbnaZGd— JB Freedmen (@JayeB62620916) October 30, 2023
The police were at Rose’s home earlier during the day when Ricker allegedly hit Amber Rose with a pair of brass knuckles.
“He ran into me, we got into an argument and he hit me in the back of the head with brass knuckles,” Rose accused. “I was able to get away and the police couldn’t find him. They told me the best thing I could do would be not to be at home. He [Ricker] was obviously after me, they said. So I got my stuff and left. I expected him to hurt me, not my mother.”
Ricker was arrested the next day in a shed on the property. Apparently, the genius had somehow locked himself inside.
Related: The 10 Mass Shootings Since Lewiston You Didn’t Hear About
“I think we have a failed justice system. They worry more about the wrong things,” Amber Rose declared. “There’s people in jail for getting caught with meth that have a million-dollar bond. But a bond on attempted murder being that low just makes you question what goes through their head when they set the bonds, how they feel at night knowing someone’s life could be on the line because they didn’t do what they needed to do.”
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CHAWBACON-O-RAMA! Amber Rose was in a seven-year relationship with Ricker, who had a three-year history of violence. It is unclear as to why he was living with Lesa Rose, considering he tried to kill her estranged husband and beat her daughter.
Amber Rose started a GoFundMe for the costs of her mother’s funeral and “carpet replacement.”
Ricker is, finally, being held without bail. He is scheduled to appear in court on Nov. 9.