Indiana: Assailant of Walmart employee had threatened her

FILE – A Walmart logo is displayed at a Walmart store in Walpole, Mass., on Sept. 3, 2019. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)

EVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP) — The mother of a Walmart employee who was shot by a former coworker inside a Walmart store in Indiana says the gunman had repeatedly threatened to kill her daughter.

Jenny Couch told WFIE-TV that her daughter, Amber Cook, 28, was shot by Ronald Ray Mosley II because he was in love with her boyfriend. When the boyfriend told Mosley that she was not interested in him romantically, Mosley became angry with Cook and threatened to kill her, according to Couch.

“He kept sending my daughter messages, anonymous. He kept calling her, telling her that he was going to kill her, that he saw her walking her dog,” Couch told the Evansville television channel on Friday.

According to the Evansville Police Department, Mosley, 25, walked into the store’s break room where employees were meeting Thursday night and shot Cook in the face with a 9mm pistol. Another employee fled the room and called 911. Police officers responded within minutes, gunning down Mosley. About 40 employees and 40 customers were in the store at the time, but no one else was injured.

On Friday, Evansville Police Chief Billy Bolin hailed as a hero an employee who came to the victim’s aid after Mosley left the break room in search of a fleeing employee. Bolin said she called 911, moved the victim to another room, locked the door and turned off the lights before Mosley returned to get the injured woman.

Mosley had worked at the southwest Indiana store until he was fired last year after being charged with four misdemeanor assaults in May 2022, when he assaulted four co-workers, Evansville police revealed Friday.

A probable cause affidavit in that case says Mosley told police he was having problems with people at work and “lost control.” A man who was one of those victims told police that before the assault, Mosley was “mad at him” because he told Mosley that he had no romantic interest in him, according to the affidavit.

After the 2022 attack at the store, Mosley pleaded guilty to assault and the case was remanded to Vanderburgh County Mental Health Court, County Attorney Diana Moers said Friday. Moers added that Mosley had been complying with court-ordered mental health treatment.

Evansville police Sgt. Anna Gray said Friday that Amber Cook is in stable condition after being airlifted to a hospital in Indianapolis. Gray added Saturday that police do not have an update on her condition.

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