Uncle: US teen had met man responsible for her death playing games online

Even though Shannon threw up no immediate red flags, Eshleman said he and Morgan's mother and other family members urged Morgan to be cautious in her decision to move across the state. — Photo by Sunil Ray on Unsplash

Several years ago, Gabriella Morgan was living with her family in Mount Joy Borough when she met Ricky Shannon playing esports and Fortnite video games online.

About a year ago, she decided to move in with Shannon at the Altoona home he shared with his mother.

That's the account provided by Mitchell Eshleman, 55, of Ephrata, who identified himself Tuesday as Morgan's uncle. He is engaged to Morgan's mother's sister.

Shannon, 19, and Morgan, 22, are dead now, after Shannon went on a violent rampage that ended in a police shootout on a roadway north of Harrisburg last Friday morning.

While Eshleman hadn't met Shannon in real life before Morgan moved to Altoona, they had become acquainted through an online gaming community that he and "Gabby" were a part of. Eshleman said Shannon seemed like a smart kid.

"The kid that I met that she was playing video games with, he's a totally different person," Eshleman said.

Totally different than the man Shannon would become – a man who, according to police, drove 150 miles (241km) early Friday morning after being served a protection from abuse order Morgan had taken out against him, then causing the deaths of Morgan and her mother and injuring her stepfather and sister before getting himself killed at the hands of police.

Efforts to contact Shannon's family have been unsuccessful.

Even though Shannon threw up no immediate red flags, Eshleman said he and Morgan's mother and other family members urged Morgan to be cautious in her decision to move across the state.

Almost immediately after she moved in with Shannon, Eshleman said, Shannon began to isolate Morgan, at times locking her in their bedroom, preventing her from showering and not allowing her to call her mother, Kimberly Day, or other family members.

Eshleman said Morgan was allowed to call him, and they last spoke in April or May.

Eshleman said he also spoke to Shannon by phone after Morgan told him how Shannon had been treating her.

"I told him, you better treat my niece better or I'm going to come out there and you and I are going to have a talk," Eshleman said.

D.W. Day, 44, of Parker, Colorado, was another uncle and Morgan's mother's brother, said Morgan would call him and tell him about Shannon's abuse. He said he encouraged her to leave him, as did her mother and stepfather.

"We all did, but you can't make a decision for an 18, 19 year old," he said.

In some of Morgan's phone calls, Day said, he could hear Shannon in the background saying he would change. Day also said Morgan has some mental health issues, though he did not know her diagnosis, for which she was supposed to take medication and that Shannon at times would not let her take the medication.

Christina Akers, a family friend who is acting as a spokesperson, agreed the relationship was toxic. She is organising a GoFundMe fundraiser for the survivors of the shooting, Morgan's stepfather and sister.

The shooting

Akers said Shannon shot Morgan multiple times in the apartment and that she went unwillingly with Shannon, who led police on a high-speed chase ending in a shootout after police used a tactical maneuver to stop Shannon's truck.

According to police, Shannon immediately began shooting at troopers, narrowly missing them. It was only after they returned fire and went to try to render aid to him that they realised Morgan also was in the truck.

The shootout happened shortly before 5am and Shannon's truck had dark tinted windows.

It's not clear if Morgan died from Shannon's gunshots or those of troopers. Shannon was killed in the shootout.

Even if trooper gunfire played a role in Morgan's death, Akers said her family "holds absolutely no animosity toward law enforcement. They did not kill Gabby. Police tried to do everything they could to save her. They went to heroic lengths. (Shannon) killed Gabby."

About 45 minutes before the fatal shootout, Shannon had gone to Sassafras Terrace apartments on East Main Street in Mount Joy and began shooting. He killed Morgan's mother, Kimberly Day, 41, and injured her stepfather, Brian Miller, and her sister, Jennifer Day.

Akers said Shannon shot Miller, a Marine Corps veteran, in the hand, neck and chest, rendering him unable to protect his family.

Akers said Miller was released from the hospital Tuesday and Jennifer Day was released Friday.

Morgan's account

According to the account Morgan wrote in the petition for her emergency protection order – signed Thursday by Columbia Borough District Judge Miles Bixler – Morgan's mother and an uncle drove to Altoona on Nov 4 and brought her back to Mount Joy.

Morgan wrote that earlier that day, Shannon became angry for no reason about an hour after waking up and locked her in a room for hours.

After he let her out, she made plans to leave. While she was packing, she wrote that Shannon told her he hoped she would get raped.

Her uncle D.W. Day said Morgan called on him way to Mount Joy, telling her she had left Shannon so he could be proud of her.

Once in Mount Joy, she wrote, she went to borough police and told them Shannon had hacked into her social media and email accounts. The date she gave police that information is unclear from her petition, but she wrote that Shannon had called and messaged her repeatedly during the drive from Altoona.

"I am scared he is going to find me and hurt me because he would in his words 'joke' about cutting body parts off me or hurt me if I ever left .... I fear he will call again and harass me but I also fear for my life," she wrote. – LNP, Lancaster, Pa./Tribune News Service

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