From Mirror staff reports

A Mount Joy woman who filed a protection-from-abuse order against an Altoona man hours before her death said she feared Ricky Jacob Shannon, 22, would hurt her or it will kill her.

Gabriella Nicole Morgan, 19, was granted emergency PFA Thursday, Nov. 7, after a two-page handwritten narrative was presented to Lancaster County Magisterial District Judge Miles K. Bixler.

Morgan was found dead in Shannon’s truck after he got into a shootout with state police in Dauphin County Friday morning.

Before that shooting, police said Shannon showed up at the Mount Joy Borough apartment complex where Morgan was staying with family. He opened fire there, shooting Kimberly M. Day, 41, according to Lancaster County Coroner Dr. Stephen Diamantoni. Several others were injured in the shooting, although they have not been identified. Police have not released their relationship to Morgan, other than to say they are family members of the teenager.

The events leading up to the fatal shootings are detailed in a pair of PFAs — one filed by Shannon in Blair County and the other filed by Morgan in Lancaster County after he moved out of Shannon’s 11th Street residence.

The Mirror received a copy of Shannon’s PFA on Friday but was unable to obtain a copy of Morgan’s petition for an emergency PFA until Tuesday.

In her petition, the young woman said she woke up on Monday morning

(November 4) with Shannon getting angry for no reason and locking the bedroom door so she can’t get out and use the bathroom. When she tried to break down the door, Shannon told her he would have her arrested, she wrote.

When she answered the door several hours later, “she tells me she hopes I get molested and jumped,” Morgan wrote, adding that he yelled at her and called her names.

He also threatened to have her committed involuntarily, she said, noting that she called Altoona police.

Morgan said her mother and uncle came to Altoona to pick her up and she packed her things and went with them to Mount Joy.

After leaving Altoona, Morgan said Shannon continued to call and text her nonstop during the 3-hour drive. Once in Mount Joy, Morgan and her family went to the local police to report how Shannon had hacked her email, Facebook, PlayStation and Instagram accounts. She also said that he would not stop calling her and that she had 40 missed calls from him.

She wrote in her PFA petition that Shannon continued to call her the next day.

“I’m afraid he’s going to find me and hurt me because, in his words, he would ‘joke’ about cutting off body parts or hurt me if I ever left,” she wrote.

She said Shannon had previously locked her in the bedroom, threatened her with a knife, hit her and choked her.

“I’m afraid he’ll call again and harass me, but I’m also afraid for my life,” she concluded.

The emergency PFA was granted by Bixler, based on Morgan’s complaint, according to court documents.

Shannon received this PFA order around 1 a.m. Friday (Nov. 8) and shortly after leaving his Altoona residence, found Morgan at the Mount Joy Borough location and shot three people, killing one.

From there, police said Shannon fled in a pickup truck and traveled up to 90 to 100 mph over 40 miles and ended up in Dauphin County, where troopers pulled his vehicle over.

It was Shannon who initiated the exchange of fire with the troopers and put them in harm’s way, state police Lt. Col. George Bivens said during a news conference Friday to address the chain of events.

“(Shannon) opened fire and fired several rounds that hit the patrol cars and the locations within inches of the troopers, so it left them with no choice but to return fire,” Bivens said.

When troopers later checked on Shannon, Bivens said they discovered the 19-year-old woman was also inside the truck. She too was dead from gunshot wounds.

“The darkness, the tinted windows and ultimately the deployment of the air bag … prevented the officers from knowing that there was another occupant in that vehicle,” Bivens said.

While the investigation into the shooting continues, Shannon’s PFA filed claims in Blair County court on Tuesday (Nov. 5) that they wanted Morgan evicted and barred from their residence on the 500 block of 11th Street.

In seeking the injunction, Shannon accused her of being physically abusive to him and others, damaging property and playing with fire. A copy of the PFA order was to be provided to the Altoona and Mount Joy police departments, with a hearing scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 14 at the Blair County Courthouse.

Bivens said Friday that state police major case teams from Troops H and J have been activated as part of the ongoing investigation. Their work is expected to include additional interviews and review of the body camera and dash cam.

Police initially responded to reports of shots fired at the Terrace Hill Apartments on Main Street in Mount Joy at 4:15 a.m. and reports of the suspect driving a red pickup truck.

State police said Mount Joy Borough police spotted the truck at 4:22 a.m. and initiated a pursuit joined by other departments as Shannon fled, sometimes driving the wrong way on Route 322, where the truck his hit several vehicles.

Bivens also revealed during the press conference that Shannon was licensed to carry a firearm and had legally purchased firearms in the past. At the time of the shootout with police, Bivens said officers knew Shannon had a gun that he was able to reload and fire.

The Dauphin County Coroner’s Office is handling Morgan’s death.