Curtiss woman charged in shooting

A woman who was originally believed to be the victim of a Sept. 19 shooting in Abbotsford has instead been charged with attempted homicide after police determined that she was the aggressor.

Deseri C. Samples, 32, of Curtiss, was charged last week with attempted homicide by intoxicated use of a weapon, first degree recklessly endangering safety and misdemeanor bail jumping.

According to a criminal complaint filed in Clark County Circuit Court, Colby- Abby police officers found Samples in the alley behind La Botana bar with two bullet holes in her back. She was transported to Marshfield Medical Center with non-lifethreatening injuries. At first, Samples said it was “some Puerto Rican guy” she didn’t know who shot her. Later, she admitted to having been in a sexual relationship with the individual, identified as Ricardo Morales Morales by police after he was first arrested as a suspect in the shooting.

Samples initially claimed that Morales Morales had pointed the gun at numerous people and was waving it around. Based on numerous interviews, it was determined that she had come to the bar with the owner of the gun and had placed the weapon in her waistband at one point.

Police found the weapon, a 9mm semiautomatic pistol, underneath a truck parked next to the bar, along with an unfi red bullet. Surveillance footage showed Morales Morales placing the firearm there after the shooting.

The gun owner, a close friend of Samples, said the gun had been in its case underneath the center console of his truck before it was used in the shooting. He claimed that Morales Morales grabbed the gun out of his vehicle and pointed it at him outside the bar.

Samples told police that she was out- side the bar listening to music and dancing with a group of people of people when Morales Morales and others came outside and were arguing. She claimed that people were trying to hold him back from fighting during the argument, and at one point, he approached her with a gun and shot her.

In an interview with police, Morales Morales said he had known Samples for about a month and described them as “friends with benefits.” He said Samples got jealous after she saw him talking to another woman at the bar.

Morales Morales said Samples confronted him about who he was talking to and got mad, threatening to kill him.

According to Morales Morales, Samples was waiting for him with a gun in the back alley of the bar. He said he hugged her and tried to get the gun away from her when it went off.

“At one point he said the gun going off was an accident,” the police report states. “During part of the incident he said he intentionally pulled the trigger to defend himself.”

Initially, he told police that he gave the gun back to Samples after the shooting, but that did not match up with video footage of the incident. The video showed him walking around the parking lot with the gun and briefly pointing it at someone else before putting it under the truck.

When asked why he pointed the gun at someone else, he said he initially thought it was the gun owner who had come to the bar with Samples.

Morales Morales told police that he didn’t want to shoot Samples, but he did so out of self-defense. He said that he received a phone message from Samples later that morning, saying that her brothers were going to kill him for what he did to her.

The night of the shooting, Morales Morales said he had consumed between 10 and 12 beers.

Police also spoke to a witness who said Samples had the gun tucked into her pants with her shirt covering it. She said Samples had retrieved the weapon from the gun owner’s truck.

The witness said she saw Samples pull the gun out of her waistband while talking to Morales Morales, and he tried to stop her. The witness said he went for the gun when it went off.

According to the witness, Samples was yelling about how she still loved Morales Morales, and he kept saying that he did not want to be with her.

The witness also provided the police with video messages between Samples and Morales Morales less than an hour after the shooting occurred. During one of their exchanges, he asks her why she had a gun, and she responds “Because I was going to shoot you.”

A day after the incident, an officer attempted to re-interview Samples about what happened the night of the shooting, but he did not get many answers.

“Deseri said she drank a lot of tequila that night and she does crazy things while drinking tequila,” the report states.

At the time of the shooting, Samples was out on bond in a separate case in which she has been charged with battery and disorderly conduct.

Samples will have an initial appearance on Oct. 12 in Clark County Circuit Court.