Ricky Hamrick: Alabama father shot dead in front of his daughter, 8, during gun deal gone wrong
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BESSEMER, ALABAMA: July 24 was supposed to be a fun day filled with happy memories for Ricky Hamrick III, 39, and his 8-year-old daughter. Instead in a traumatic turn of events, the little girl watched her dad die before her eyes.
Ricky Howard Hamrick III had a happy Sunday outing with his young daughter in mind, planning a road trip from Cleburne County to Bessemer, which was supposed to end with a trip to Whataburger. But Ricky Hamrick also had some side plans of his own. Hamrick had arranged to sell two guns to a buyer in Bessemer on Facebook Marketplace, police told AL.com.
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But things went horribly wrong when the gun buyers arrived at a Salvation Army thrift store and fired three rounds into Hamrick's sedan. Hamrick's daughter was sitting in the passenger seat. The firing left Hamrick dead after he received a fatal shot in his head. But luckily his daughter was not injured.
“Unfortunately, he sold guns to somebody that ended his life, somebody who we consider a coward, somebody who is going to shoot a person while they’re sitting in their car,” Lt. Christian Clemons of the Bessemer Police Department said. “No provocation led to this shooting. We’re talking about lowdown, dirty rotten cowards.”
The little girl who was preparing to enter the third grade was saved by a woman who rushed to the scene after hearing the gunshots. "The good folks of Bessemer took care of the 8-year-old, they realized what happened, heard the shots, ran to her aid and took her into their home and waited for officers to arrive," Clemons told the press.
Kelli Brown, the woman who saved the girl kept her occupied until police arrived at the crime scene, told AL.com, “It took everything in me not to break down in front of her. I just could not fathom it. It was so surreal.” Recalling the horrific incident, Brown said “I heard a child screaming, She got out of the car and came around and, bless her heart, she didn’t want to leave her daddy. She was trying her best to stay there with him.” Brown further revealed that when she opened the door, she saw the girl covered in blood and leaning over her lifeless father. “She was saying, ‘They shot my daddy, I don’t want my daddy to die,’” Brown continued. “I couldn’t do nothing but hold her.”
As per the officials, Hamrick who lost one of his legs in a past accident has no criminal records and was selling the gun legally. Further in the statement, the officials told WBMA that the pair of suspects ultimately stole the guns and fled the shooting scene.