Mom shot 10 times minutes after posting that ex was stalking her, MN reports say
A woman was shot dead outside a Minnesota home minutes after posting on Facebook that she was being stalked by her violent ex-boyfriend, police say.
Riah Samuels said in a 7:45 a.m. Facebook post on Sept. 14 that her ex was stalking her earlier that morning. She said officers had served him a protective order.
Eight minutes after that post, Minneapolis officers responded to a home for a report of a shooting and found the woman with “life-threatening gunshot wounds,” according to a news release. She died at the scene in what officers are calling a domestic shooting.
The victim was identified by family members as Samuels, with her aunt telling KSTP her “violent ex-boyfriend” had gunned down.
“He ambushed her and shot her not five times, but 10 times, right here in front of her house,” Carolyn Brooks, the victim’s aunt, told the station.
A GoFundMe described Samuels as a mother of “two young boys who soleley depended” on her.
In her series of Facebook posts before her death, Samuels said her ex had threatened her family and damaged her vehicle “because he can’t handle a break up.” She shared a video that showed a man hitting her several times outside a home.
Police said the accused shooter fled, but he was taken into custody at 3 a.m., according to the Minnesota Star Tribune.
The newspaper reported Samuels had filed a protection order against the man in August after she said an attack left her with “a knot and scratches on her head and bruises on her collarbone and legs.”
The 50-year-old ex is being held in the Hennepin County Jail and is facing a murder charge, records show.
“I feel like the system failed us,” Brooks told KSTP. “We asked for the police more than one time to help (with) this domestic situation, and she was ambushed. The (ex-boyfriend) stalked her.”
Salina Owens, Samuels’ sister, described her as her “everything,” WCCO reported.
“She loves animals, she love(s) her sons,” Owens told the station. “She was sweet, she was outgoing, she was free-spirited.”
Samuels became the fourth woman in her family to be a victim of domestic violence, a relative told KSTP.
This story was originally published September 16, 2025 at 9:06 AM with the headline "Mom shot 10 times minutes after posting that ex was stalking her, MN reports say."