Gloria Choi Shot by Ex-Boyfriend After Multiple 911 Stalking Calls

A 33-year-old single mother in Lakewood, Washington, was killed on January 2, 2022, after her ex-boyfriend rammed her vehicle off the road and opened fire while she was on the line with 911 dispatchers. The incident has since become the center of a criminal conviction and an ongoing civil lawsuit alleging that local law enforcement failed to protect the victim despite repeated warnings.

Gloria Choi, a manager at a nearby Holiday Inn, was driving in Lakewood when she placed an emergency call reporting that she was being followed. According to prosecutors, William Billy Rickman followed Choi from her workplace and pinned her truck against a telephone pole on the 6100 block of 112th St. SW. During the call, Choi told dispatchers, I don’t know where I am … I’m scared to get out of my car, before screaming, He’s got a gun!

Seconds after that statement, multiple shots were fired. Police later found Choi slumped over the wheel of her truck. An autopsy determined she had been shot 10 times, and investigators discovered 14 bullet defects on the vehicle’s door and window.

A Pattern of Escalation

The shooting followed a period of documented harassment. Choi and Rickman had been in a relationship that began with what investigators described as love bombing, where Rickman showered her with attention and gifts. However, after the couple broke up in the fall of 2021, Rickman began to stalk and harass Choi.

On December 1, 2021, a court issued a no-contact order barring Rickman from contacting Choi. Despite this legal protection, the harassment continued. In the 48 hours preceding her death, between December 30 and December 31, 2021, Choi and her co-workers called 911 four times to report that Rickman was stalking her, breaking into her truck, and slashing her tires.

Court records indicate Choi had previously reported that Rickman placed a tracking device on her belongings and described him as unpredictable and suicidal with drinking problems and a gun owner.

Criminal Conviction and Arrest

Rickman managed to elude authorities for several days following the murder. On January 6, 2022, law enforcement tracked his phone to Humboldt County in northern California. Tribal police and the California Highway Patrol arrested him at a relative’s house.

During a two-week jury trial, prosecutors presented evidence of the stalking and the no-contact order violations. While the defense argued the police investigation was incomplete, the jury reached a verdict in approximately two hours. Rickman was convicted of aggravated first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Civil Litigation Against Lakewood Police

The case has sparked a legal battle regarding the response of the Lakewood Police Department. On September 6, 2023, Choi’s estate filed a civil lawsuit in Pierce County Superior Court, alleging that the department failed to protect her despite having direct knowledge that Rickman posed an imminent threat.

“Gloria’s death was completely preventable. She didn’t have to die if people had done their job.”

Meaghan Driscoll, attorney for the Choi estate

The lawsuit claims the city neglected its statutory duties to enforce the protective order. In response, city officials have denied that officers had direct knowledge of an imminent threat to Choi or that police actions placed her in harm’s way.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages on behalf of Choi’s estate and her son, who was 8 years old at the time of the killing.

For more information and help, contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233.