On Jan. 2, 2022, Gloria Choi was shot multiple times while on a 911 call in Lakewood, Washington. Investigators tied the attack to Billy Rickman using surveillance, cellphone data and witness testimony; Rickman was arrested Jan. 6, 2022, convicted of aggravated first-degree murder in Nov. 2023 and sentenced to life without parole. Gloria's family filed a wrongful-death suit alleging police failed to act on repeated warnings and leads. Separate historical abuse allegations against Rickman were investigated by Oakland police.
Stalked and Shot During a 911 Call: The Tragic Case of Gloria Choi
Stalked woman shot at 14 times by ex-boyfriend during horrific 911 call
On Jan. 2, 2022, while she was on a frantic 911 call, 32-year-old Gloria Choi was shot multiple times beside a roadside in Lakewood, Washington. In the recording she can be heard saying she is afraid to leave her car and warning dispatchers, "He's got a gun," moments before a sustained burst of gunfire. First responders arrived quickly, but Gloria died a short time later at a nearby hospital.
Gloria Choi / Credit: Gloria Choi
Shooting and Immediate Response
According to prosecutors and witness accounts, the attacker—later identified as Billy Rickman—pulled Gloria's truck off the road, stood at the driver's-side window and fired nine .40-caliber rounds through the door and window while the door was locked. The shooter drove away, then circled back and fired five more rounds from his vehicle. Prosecutors say Rickman fired 14 shots in total and struck Gloria at least 10 times.
Gloria Choi's bullet-ridden truck. / Credit: Pierce County Prosecutor's Office
911 audio excerpt: "I don't know where I am ... I'm scared to get out of my car. He's got a gun!"
Lakewood police broke a rear window to reach Gloria and extricated her from the vehicle. First responders performed CPR, but she was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.
Billy Rickman, right, seen on surveillance video outside the Home Motel wiping down his vehicle after the shooting. / Credit: Pierce County Prosecutor's Office
How Investigators Tied the Case Together
Investigators found a Holiday Inn lanyard on Gloria and used her employment as manager to identify her name. That lead pointed detectives to a suspect: Billy Rickman. Subpoenaed phone records, text messages, surveillance footage and rental records tied Rickman to a beige/rented Chevy Colorado seen near multiple scenes of harassment and, ultimately, at the murder scene.
Billy Rickman is seen on security camera as he entered an Enterprise rental office where he rented a Chevy Colorado – the same vehicle seen in the Home Motel surveillance. / Credit: Pierce County Prosecutor's Office
Surveillance from a nearby motel captured an image of Rickman wiping down the side of a Chevy Colorado shortly after the shooting. Enterprise records showed Rickman rented a matching truck in his own name. Additional business surveillance and eyewitness descriptions linked the same vehicle to earlier slashing and vandalism incidents in the days before the killing.
Gloria Choi and Billy Rickman / Credit: Gloria Choi
Relationship, Harassment and Escalation
Rickman and Choi met in mid-2021. Friends describe a rapid progression from intense attention and gift-giving—often called "love-bombing"—to controlling behavior, substance abuse and physical intimidation. Gloria, a single mother, reported that Rickman tracked her movements, allegedly planted an Apple AirTag in her truck, damaged property, and repeatedly violated a court-ordered no-contact directive.
A screenshot from one of Billy Rickman's videos to Gloria Choi. / Credit: Pierce County Prosecutor's Office
Between Dec. 30 and Dec. 31, 2021, Gloria and her friends reported multiple incidents to police: slashed tires, theft of laptops from her truck, harassing emails and calls from blocked numbers, and video evidence from the Holiday Inn showing a man slashing tires. Although the desk clerk and other witnesses described the suspect's vehicle—a Chevy Colorado with one taillight out—authorities did not immediately locate Rickman.
The slashed front tire on Gloria Choi's truck. / Credit: Connelly Law Offices
Arrest, Trial and Conviction
Rickman eluded capture for several days but was located and arrested in Humboldt County, California on Jan. 6, 2022. Prosecutors charged him with aggravated first-degree murder. At the November 2023 trial, investigators presented a compilation of cellphone data, GPS coordinates, motel and business surveillance, and witness testimony, including the full 911 call. The jury convicted Rickman of aggravated murder after about two hours of deliberation; he received life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Gloria Choi's shadow can be seen as she recorded cellphone video of the shoeprints in the snow outside the Holiday Inn where Jacob Blue's tires were slashed. / Credit: Connelly Law Offices
Civil Case and Criticisms of Police Response
Gloria's family, represented by attorney Meaghan Driscoll, filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the City of Lakewood and the Lakewood Police Department, alleging law-enforcement failures to act on repeated complaints and clear investigative leads. Driscoll points to a seven-page report Gloria gave police listing violations of the no-contact order, surveillance stills, and eyewitness descriptions that she says were sufficient to locate and arrest Rickman before the killing.
Security video from the Holiday Inn shows a man seen slashing the tires of Jacob Blue's Jeep in the hotel parking lot. / Credit: Connelly Law Offices
Driscoll and a retained expert, retired law-enforcement instructor Russ Hicks, criticized specific police actions—such as leaving a voicemail for Rickman and not issuing a BOLO for the suspect's vehicle—that they say increased danger instead of containing it. The city’s lawyer countered in a hearing that police have no duty to arrest a suspect unless he is found at the scene; that position is central to the pending civil case. As of May 2026, the wrongful-death litigation remained unresolved.
Billy Rickman was arrested just after midnight on Jan 7. in northern California and charged with aggravated first-degree murder. He pleaded not guilty. / Credit: Pierce County Prosecutor's Office
Related Allegations
Separately, Aja Houle reported to Alameda County authorities that Rickman had trafficked and sexually abused her as a teenager in 2005. Oakland police issued a warrant in 2021, but Washington State prosecutors said they were unaware of that warrant during the Choi investigation. Houle has described years of abuse and survivor trauma tied to Rickman.
Despite the no contact order, prosecutors say Billy Rickman continued to stalk Gloria Choi. / Credit: Gloria Choi
Aftermath and Resources
Gloria's death devastated family and friends. Her son now lives with relatives in another state. The prosecutor who handled the case, Greg Greer, retired in 2024 and has said the final moments of Gloria's 911 call remain haunting.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 for confidential help and resources.
Production credits: Produced by Paul La Rosa. Associate producers Megan Kelly Brown and Jane Shevlin. Development producer Greg Fisher. Editors Atticus Brady, Michelle Harris, Eric Modena and Diana DeCilio. Senior producer Anthony Batson. Executive story editor Nancy Kramer. Executive producer Judy Tygard.
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