Mom intentionally runs over Walmart shoppers with child in car, MI officials say

Eleven people — including a police officer and Walmart shoppers — were intentionally struck by a woman driving her Jeep with her 6-year-old daughter inside, Michigan officials say.

Rachele Ricklefs, 30, now faces 18 felony charges following the Sept. 26 incidents in Warren and Clawson, according to Macomb County Prosecutor Peter J. Lucido.

Her 12-year-old son was initially inside the Jeep, but he escaped as his mom fled from Clawson police officers, prosecutors said. As she sped off, she is accused of hitting two police cruisers.

The mother then drove her 6-year-old daughter into neighboring Warren, where prosecutors said the woman intentionally ran over 11 people with her Jeep.

The victims included a police officer and two Walmart shoppers, who were “loading groceries into their vehicles,” according to Lucido. Their conditions are unknown.

Ricklefs was stopped in the Walmart parking lot and resisted arrest before being taken into custody, officials said.

Prosecutors said she was charged with 10 counts of assault with intent to murder, which each faces a potential life sentence in prison if she’s found guilty.

She was also charged with two counts of fleeing a police officer, two counts of malicious destruction of police property, two counts of malicious destruction of personal property, assault with a dangerous weapon, assaulting or resisting a police officer and fourth-degree child abuse, Lucido said, calling the allegations against the mother “shocking and deeply disturbing.”

She was jailed on a $750,000 bond, officials said.

Warren is about a 20-mile drive north from Detroit.

This story was originally published September 30, 2025 at 9:40 AM with the headline "Mom intentionally runs over Walmart shoppers with child in car, MI officials say."