NORTH COLLEGE HILL, Ohio (WXIX) – An “armed and dangerous” murder suspect was arrested Friday after a double shooting of two 18-year-olds, including one who died at the scene in North College Hill last week.
Ricky Orlando Lee, 43, was taken into custody and charged with murder, felonious assault, tampering with evidence, aggravated menacing and using weapons while intoxicated, according to Hamilton County court documents.
Lee is accused of opening fire with dozens of rounds on recent high school graduate Breal Wade and her 18-year-old friend while the two were inside a vehicle outside her home in the 2000 block of Carpenter Drive around 1:30 a.m. Monday, newly filed court records show.
Lee was taken to the Hamilton County Justice Center, where he awaits trial.
Ricky Orlando Lee, 43, is considered armed and dangerous, police say(Hamilton County Justice Center)
Breal Wade recently graduated from high school. She had her whole life ahead of her before she was gunned down in a vehicle outside her North College Hill House early Monday, June 22.(Family provided)Lee fired 29 rounds from AR-15: Court docs
The investigation determined Lee “used an AR-15-style rifle to fire approximately 29 rounds” into the vehicle, North College Hill police wrote in an affidavit filed in Hamilton County Municipal Court.
Wade was shot in her left wrist and abdomen. Her friend was shot in his right shoulder and right earlobe, according to the sworn statement.
He was taken to a hospital and was initially reported to be in stable condition, city records show.
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Breal Wade of North College Hill was 18 when a gunman opened fire on a vehicle she was in outside her home, killing her early Monday, June 22.(Family provided)
Investigators recovered several spent shell casings from the shooting scene and linked those to ones fired inside Lee’s home, police wrote in the affidavit.
“Detectives further determined that the firearm used in the offense was moved, altered, disabled, concealed, or otherwise manipulated after the shooting, requiring additional forensic examination and testing and indicating an effort to impair its evidentiary value.”
The phrase “otherwise manipulated” hints that the gun may have been altered in ways that could trigger separate, strict federal gun laws, especially if the serial number was removed.
Sent to psych ward after arrests: Docs
Lee has a violent criminal record with a history of firing guns while intoxicated, and was committed to a mental hospital in 2023 after two arrests in 2022, other court records show.
North College Hill charged him in April 2022 with inducing panic, resisting arrest, obstructing official business and using weapons while intoxicated, according to the criminal complaints.
Police alleged he was drunk and fired several rounds in an unknown direction, court records show.
When officers arrived and ordered him out, he refused and began playing music on a speaker instead of going outside, according to a criminal complaint.
Lee was convicted of inducing panic and using weapons while intoxicated, the court docket shows. The other charges were dismissed.
He was sentenced to 180 days, with 179 days suspended on each charge, according to the court docket. He was put on probation for a year and ordered to pay court costs and fines.
While on probation, he was arrested in November 2022 on a felony vandalism charge and misdemeanor criminal damaging after police accused him of ripping and destroying police department signs in their building, punching a hole in the wall, destroying a Ring doorbell camera and urinating in the lobby.
Then-Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge Leslie Ghiz found Lee not guilty by reason of insanity in March 2023 after a court-ordered mental evaluation determined he was mentally ill, court records show.
He was committed for the maximum sentence (a year) he would have served in prison if he had been convicted of vandalizing the police station, court records show.
Once the year was up, the charges were dismissed.
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