The mother of a local teen who was randomly shot last summer at an Aiken Walmart has filed a lawsuit against the suspect and his mother.
Ashley Rickard, mother of Ashton Rickard, is seeking damages against suspect Stephen Foreman as well as his mother. The suit blames the suspect for the assault and Stephanie Foreman for not keeping guns away from her son despite his history of mental illness and violence involving firearms.
The suit, filed Thursday in Aiken County’s Court of Common Pleas, provides new details in the shocking violence that erupted on June 7, 2023, at the Walmart on Whiskey Road in Aiken.
The suit says Stephen Foreman approached Ashley Rickard and her 13-year-old daughter while they were shopping and without provocation, shot the teen with a black Colt 1911 .45 caliber handgun.
The bullet from the handgun caused extensive damage to several internal organs and bones of Ashton, leading to significant blood loss and requiring emergency surgery. She remained conscious during the attack and its aftermath, fully aware of the seriousness of the injuries sustained, the suit alleges.
“The bullet from the attack lodged near minor child A.R.’s lumbar spine, where it remains to this day,” the suit says. “The physical and psychological effects of the attack on both minor child A.R. and her mother, Ashley Rickard, are significant and ongoing.”
According to the complaint, 32-year-old Stephen Foreman had a history of mental illness and violent behavior involving firearms. In 2019, he used a “sawed-off shotgun” to assault and hold hostage his family members, including his parents and brother, in their home, the suit says. Stephen Foreman then broke into his brother’s gun safe and took several handguns, subsequently escaping in a black Ford Expedition. He surrendered to police the following day.
Despite this violent episode and the involvement of police, the lawsuit claims that Stephanie Foreman initially assisted officers but later refused to cooperate fully and testify truthfully about the events. As a result, her son was not appropriately punished for his violent crime, the suit says.
The lawsuit alleges that the handgun used in the attack belonged to Stephanie Foreman and she failed to secure it, allowing her violent son to access it. It further alleges that Defendant Stephanie Foreman’s actions were reckless, willful, and wanton.
The lawsuit brings multiple causes of action against the defendants, including assault and battery, negligence, negligent entrustment, and negligent infliction of emotional distress. It seeks judgment for actual damages, punitive damages, costs of the action, and any other relief deemed just and proper by the court.
In the days after the shooting, Solicitor Bill Weeks addressed the shooting and lack of prison time For Stephen Foreman in the 2019 incident.
Weeks said Foreman’s family wanted immediate help for him and didn’t want him in jail. He said they didn’t cooperate with prosecutors like they should have.
So prosecutors allowed him to plead guilty to two counts of pointing and presenting a firearm and sent him to the newly-formed mental health court, which works similarly to drug court, which included counseling and staying out of trouble.
“I was told he was the poster child for the mental health court and graduated from it,” Weeks said. Because Foreman completed the program, the charges were expunged from his record.
Foreman remains behind bars at the Aiken County Detention Center on charges of attempted murder and weapon possession.
Meanwhile, a GoFundMe account for Ashton’s medical costs has raised over $11,000 of a $100,000 goal.
