Robert Christopher Ringley is a second-year student at the Ave Maria School of Law. Ringley was charged with attempted murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon last Friday after he allegedly threatened to kill and shoot at two of his classmates from Ave Maria Law School.
Ringley is a New Jersey native, a graduate of the Catholic University of American and Don Bosco Preparatory High School. Ringley spent a night drinking with his roommate, Christopher Graves, when his then-girlfriend told him the relationship was over. Samantha Morris was the girlfriend in question. Once the roommate, Graves, went to sleep, Ringley grabbed a silver Taurus 9mm handgun from his room.
“Just tell me you love me. I love you,” he told Morris as he walked around holding the gun. “I can kill myself. I can kill you. It’s simple.”
Morris began fearful, so she woke the roommate to help calm Ringley. Ringley was the only one out of the three who continued to drink late into the night. Ringley had two more large glasses of scotch while the roommate and the girlfriend tried to diffuse the situation.
“This always happens. I love a girl and they dump me,” Ringley said to his roommate.
Graves eventually became successful in taking the gun from Ringley but decided to give it back to him when Ringley calmed down. As Ringley got the gun back he began loading and unloading it, as a taunt to Morris and Graves.
“I’ve got the power. With this, I’m the boss.” This is when Ringley turned the gun on his classmates. He forced his now ex-girlfriend and his roommate to get down on their knees on the street. The gun was then pointed at them as he said he would kill them both. As Morris cried, the gun was held to her head.
“How does it feel?” he taunted.
Morris ran into the apartment to grab a phone and hide in a closet when Ringley removed the magazine from the gun. During this time, Graves was ordered to his feet by Ringley, who then fired a couple of shots into the air before he pointed the gun at Graves. He then fired the gun again. When Ringley suddenly removed the magazine from the gun, the woman darted into the apartment, grabbed a phone and hid in a closet.
“I saw the big flash of the muzzle and I heard the bullet whiz by me,” Graves said.
According to the arrest report, Ringley faces one count of attempted murder and one count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. He is being held on $1 million bond and will return to court on February 6.
Back in 2010, Ringley was also arrested on a misdemeanor DUI charge. He was sentenced to one year probation and 50 hours of community service.
John Knowles, a spokesman for the Ave Maria School of Law said that there are no policies for students who have been arrested.
“This is not a situation we’ve encountered before,” Knowles said. “It’s in the hands of the authorities … We’re working through it in our internal process.”
“It’s a very sad situation for everyone involved, I’m sure,” he added.