She called police 10 times in month before ex-boyfriend killed her in Lakewood, records show
A woman fatally shot by her ex-boyfriend in Lakewood had a court order prohibiting him from contacting her and told friends she feared for her life, according to court documents.
On Jan. 2, Gloria Choi was on the phone with 911 dispatchers begging for help when William Lee Rickman, whom she’d broken up with two months earlier, pinned her pickup truck against a telephone pole and fired at least 14 shots, records say.
Choi, 33 of Chehalis, died of multiple gunshot wounds, according to the Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Rickman, 46, has been charged with first-degree aggravated murder in connection with the homicide. He was arrested Friday in Humboldt County, California, according to the North Coast Journal. Rickman is expected to be extradited to Washington state to face charges.
Investigators say at least 11 incidents in three counties were documented in barely a month showing Rickman was following Choi, harassing her, violating the no-contact order and vandalizing her truck.
Charging papers give this account of the fatal shooting and domestic violence leading up to it:
Choi called 911 about 7:25 p.m. on Jan. 2 and was “very emotional,” telling dispatchers her boyfriend was following her, was armed with a gun and she was too scared to get out of her truck, prosecutors wrote in an affidavit.
Dispatchers could hear Choi scream “hysterically, and some sort of pounding is heard. Seconds later, at least eight gunshots are heard in rapid succession,” records say.
The recording picked up another five gunshots about a minute after Choi stopped screaming.
Officers responded to the 6100 block of 112th Street West and found Choi slumped over the steering wheel of a 2019 Ford Ranger. The truck was pushed against a telephone pole.
Detectives found 14 bullet defects in the victim’s truck and retrieved 12 bullet casings from the scene.
Choi was taken to Madigan Army Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead. Some officers recognized the victim because of recent domestic violence confrontations involving Rickman. Choi sought help from law enforcement in Pierce, Thurston and Lewis counties, records say.
First came a complaint to Tumwater police Nov. 28 that Rickman refused to return her vehicle after their breakup. Choi believed Rickman was keeping the car as a way to prevent them from splitting up. He was arrested the following day on suspicion of second-degree taking a motor vehicle without permission.
Choi obtained a domestic violence no-contact order, which was served to Rickman Dec. 1 in Thurston County.
Although Choi told friends and co-workers she was afraid of Rickman because he threatened to kill her, there were no police reports filed again until Dec. 14. In that incident, she saw Rickman and a friend slowly drive past the Centralia coffee shop where she was. Choi hid inside the bathroom and called a friend for help.
Three days later, Rickman followed her to the Capitol Mall while she shopped with her son and allegedly begged her to get back together and drop the court order prohibiting him from coming near her. Choi declined.
Over the course of five days around Christmas, Rickman allegedly called her, emailed her, tried to Facetime her and text messaged the link to a music video for Kane Brown’s song, “Forgetting is the Hardest Part.”
Police say Rickman on Dec. 30 vandalized Choi’s truck, slashed two tires and stole two laptops while she ate sushi with a co-worker at a Lakewood restaurant. Later the same day, the co-worker discovered his tires had been slashed, and surveillance video showed Rickman in the parking lot.
After Choi was fatally shot, one of her ex-boyfriends called detectives to describe a phone conversation he had with Rickman two days before the homicide. Rickman allegedly complained Choi left him for another man and said, “I’m gonna take care of it tonight. I’m gonna be on the news,” prosecutors wrote in charging papers.
Choi’s ex-boyfriend assumed Rickman planned to beat up the new boyfriend. Then he heard Choi had been fatally shot.
Rickman has an extensive criminal history in California, including domestic violence convictions, records say.
This story was originally published January 10, 2022 at 1:03 PM.
