GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Investigators have arrested a Gainesville woman suspected of conspiring to shoot and kill her ex-boyfriend and one of his friends on Christmas Day 2016.
Police said Rici Coleman, 28, and a male accomplice drove to the home of Coleman's ex-boyfriend late Christmas evening and rattled a front gate until he came outside. Police said the accomplice shot the man twice before running back to a car that Coleman was driving and speeding away.
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The two drove to the home of a friend of Coleman's ex-boyfriend with the intent of killing him as well, but he was not home, police said.
Gainesville police officers responding to the shooting rendered first aid and trauma care to the ex-boyfriend, who was taken to a nearby hospital by firefighters. Police said the man survived after undergoing four surgeries.
Police said Coleman and her ex-boyfriend had been involved in a two-year romantic relationship that had become strained, and in the weeks leading up to the shooting, Coleman visited her ex-boyfriend’s home multiple times, flattening his vehicle tires and hitting him more than once.
Coleman was apparently so angry at her ex-boyfriend that she made complaints to various people in an attempt to get him arrested or fired, police said. When those efforts did not work, Coleman turned to the male accomplice for help, police said.
Coleman and the accomplice then devised the plan to kill Coleman's ex-boyfriend and the other man, police said.
Investigators have been working to verify items of evidence to connect Coleman to the shooting, police said. She was already in the Alachua County Jail on unrelated charges when Gainesville Police Department investigators filed the additional charges late Monday evening.
Coleman is being held on charges of attempted murder and two counts of conspiracy to commit murder.
The male accomplice has been arrested outside Gainesville on unrelated charges, and investigators will soon be filing charges in the case for him, police said.
His identity is being withheld as part of the ongoing investigation, police said.