Man sentenced to life for shooting wife seven times in frenzied attack which saw bullet ricochet to his face

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A Cherokee County man who shot his estranged wife seven times after asking if their marriage can be saved has pleaded guilty to multiple charges, including of attempted murder.

Ronald Richard Goss had broken into his wife Tina Davis’s house in February 2018 with a gun, telling her that if he could not have her, no one else could.

The 57-year-old was sentenced to 65 years in prison on Tuesday by Cherokee Superior court for attempted murder, invading his wife’s home, attempting arson, nine counts of family violence aggravated battery and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, reported WSB-2 TV.

Goss turned up unannounced at Ms Davis’s house on 11 February in 2018 asking if their marriage could be saved. His wife told him she wanted to divorce him.

He left but came back early morning on 12 February around 4am and waited for Ms Davis to wake up at 5am, after which he disconnected the power connection of the house and entered the garage. He broke into her house by firing at the door.

Ms Davis was in the house’s master bathroom when Goss started shouting at her, prosecutors told the court.

He went on to shoot her seven times in the chest, head, left forearm, left thumb, left shoulder and right hip. The attack left Ms Davis with several internal injuries, including a spinal injury which does not allow her to feel any motion from waist down.

She has undergone at least 15 surgeries, six weeks of inpatient rehabilitation, followed by four weeks of outpatient rehabilitation. Ms Davis has also attended 459 sessions of physical and occupational therapy after the attack, reported Breaking911.

One of the bullets fired by Goss ricocheted and hit him in the face, leaving one side of his face brutally injured.

Goss then took photos of Ms Davis and himself before calling 911, prosecutors said, and told them calmly that he had shot his wife and himself. Shortly after, the two were taken to the hospital by Cherokee county fire and emergency services.

He admitted to having poured gasoline on Ms Davis’s car which was parked in the indoor garage with intentions of committing arson, the report added.

She regrets the loss of some of the best years of her life she could have spent with her grandkids.

“But what hurts most are the things he took from my future. I would have been a go-to babysitter for my grandkids. I would have been the fun Nana. These should be the best years of my life I should be checking off my bucket list,” Ms Davis told the court during the sentence hearing, the report added.

She added: “But thanks to him, I spend my days in therapy just to regain a portion of what he took. I may not have died that day, but he took my life just as if I had. A weaker person physically, mentally, spiritually would not have survived.”

“There will be no parole for me. Please make him live with the consequences of his decisions for the rest of his life,” she told the court.

Defence attorney Shannon Wallace who prosecuted Goss for the attack said that his actions were “a result of a planned vicious attack in which he did everything in his power to kill Tina Davis.”

“While his plan to kill Tina was unsuccessful, in less than five minutes, Mr Goss ended Tina’s life as she once had known it,” she told the court.

In the four years since Ms Davis was ambushed in her home, Ms Wallace said the woman had endured a tremendous amount of physical and mental suffering.

“…and I am in complete awe of Tina’s strength and determination to regain what this defendant took from her. Hopefully, the resolution in this case will provide her and her family comfort and closure,” she said, the report added.