BALL GROUND, Ga. — A Georgia man has pleaded guilty to shooting his wife seven times after she told him there was no way to reconcile their marriage and she wanted a divorce.
According to the Cherokee County District Attorney's Office, Ronald Richard Goss admitted his attempt to kill his estranged wife Tina Davis in Ball Ground, Georgia on Feb. 12, 2018. He was sentenced to 65 years in prison.
The district attorney's office said that before shooting Davis, Goss told her "if he could not have her, no one could."
According to an account by the DA's office, Goss, 57, showed up the day before unannounced and asked if their marriage could be saved. Davis turned him away, saying she wanted to go through with a divorce.
He then returned to the house early the next morning, knowing his wife of nearly 10 years would awake around 5 a.m. He then cut off power to the house, came in through the garage and shot open a door to get inside the home.
Goss then attacked Davis in the master bathroom of the home, shooting her in the chest, left forearm, left thumb, left shoulder, right hip and head, "causing internal injuries as well as a spinal injury that left her with no feeling from the waist down."
The district attorney's account also notes that at some point as he unloaded gunfire at Davis, "a bullet ricocheted and struck Goss in the face."
The shooting was life-changing for Davis, who had been an avid runner.
Her injuries, according to the DA's office, required "more than 15 grueling surgeries and dental procedures to help correct the damage Goss caused."
She rehabilitated at the Shepherd Center with more than 450 hours of physical and occupational therapy, and is now able to walk on her own again. According to the DA's office, it's her goal to run again someday.
In her victim impact statement to the court, Davis spoke of how she felt robbed of "the best years of my life."
"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," she said. "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."
Evidence in the trial included Goss' own photos of the victim, himself and the scene of the shooting that he took before calling 911. Cherokee County Fire & Emergency Services responded and took them both to the hospital on the day of the shooting.
According to the DA's office, an investigation also found Goss had doused Davis' car with gasoline and intended to set it on fire.
After a recommendation by the State of life in prison plus 35 years and a request by the defense of 20 years with life on probation, Cherokee Superior Court Judge David Cannon, Jr. sentenced him to 65 years.
"He did everything in his power to kill Tina Davis. It is only by the grace of God that she is still here with us,” District Attorney Wallace, who prosecuted this case on behalf of the State, said in a statement. “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. In the four years since Tina was ambushed in her home, she has 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.”
The DA's office shared a photo of Davis, standing on her own with her two sons at Christmas time.
