Rickey Moore's problems started long before he was gunned down in a shootout with a Cincinnati police officer early Friday.

        His mother said her 21-year-old son's mental health worsened significantly after he saw his cousin beaten to death by a gang in 1997.

        Diagnosed two years earlier with schizophrenia and manic depression, Mr. Moore suffered a nervous breakdown, Essie Mae Hurt said.

        A year later, the arrests began, some of which would eventually send him to prison.

Rickey Moore and Essie Mae Hurt, parents of Rickey Moore, cry at a vigil at the Millvale Community Center on Friday, hours after the younger Mr. Moore was killed. At right is the Rev. Steven Scott from the First Recovery Christian Fellowship Church. (Ernest Coleman photo) | ZOOM |

        “He saw that happen and he ain't been the same. It didn't get no better for Rickey,” Mrs. Hurt said.

        Mrs. Hurt thinks her son's mental condition may explain the actions that ended in his death.

        Relatives acknowledge Mr. Moore's criminal history. Those who gathered Friday at Mr. Moore's grandmother's home on Moosewood Court in Millvale described him as a jokester who kept his mother laughing, but who also sometimes exhibited strange and threatening behavior.

        His grandmother, Frances Shepard, said she called police on her grandson two years ago when she heard him threaten a man in her neighborhood.

        At the time, Ms. Shepard said she asked police to take Mr. Moore to University Hospital. Instead, the officer booked him into jail.

        “He was sick. Sometimes he was the sweetest guy in world. Sometimes he was the evilest person in the world,” said a cousin, Thomas Knight.

        He said opening fire on a police officer seemed out of character for Mr. Moore. “But he was capable of doing it,” Mr. Knight said.

        Hamilton County court records show that Mr. Moore's scrapes with the law included a string of misdemeanors for trespassing and disorderly conduct, felony drug charges, probation and prison time since his first arrest in April 1998.

        He spent five months in prison in 1999 on a drug trafficking charge, and again in 2000 for possession of crack cocaine.

        In fact, a judge issued a warrant for Mr. Moore's arrest five hours before he died because he failed to appear for a court hearing on charges of driving without a license and with improper restraints.

        Mrs. Hurt thinks her son got into trouble as a way of crying out for help.

        “My son was mentally ill,” she said, adding that he was off and on prescription drugs, such as Thorazine, which is used to treat schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders.

        Since 1995, Mr. Moore was hospitalized at least five times and sometimes for up to eight months at mental health facilities, including the Pauline Warfield Lewis Center and University Hospital's psychiatric ward. He also spent time in a group home in Walnut Hills, Mrs. Hurt said.

        Court records indicate there was some question about Mr. Moore's mental condition when he appeared on misdemeanor charges in 1999. At the time, his court-appointed lawyer asked for a psychological evaluation.
       Emily Biuso contributed.

Officer under fire kills man; city remains calm
Haas' record shows praise, discipline
Blacks seek respect with protection
On dangerous beat, task force officers 'safe, courteous'
Spiral of mental illness led to death
Best bet is leave flood plain, Corps tells Fairfax officials
Boyfriend charged in tot's death
Candidates' ballot slot up to board
Looking for tips from Boston
'Most wanted' list trimmed
Outbreak of shigella rages on
Police investigate robbery, assault
Lifeguard saves 4-year-old from drowning
Tristate A.M. Report
HOWARD: Neighborhoods
MCNUTT: Big Brother
Hamilton man won't fight abuse charges
Lebanon manager, 3 others indicted
No bond in rape-murder case
Trucker accused in abduction case
Woman severely hurt after train, car collide
Doctor accused of faking injections
More like Taft, poll finds
Ohio cities in new land rush
Oldest active federal judge, 95, to retire Aug. 31
Study inconclusive on link between school site, cancers
Taft signs bill subjecting teens to Megan's Law
Campbell buses get nicer digs
Covington gets $550K for rehab
Husband extradited
Kentucky News Briefs
RV fire, wrecks, clog I-71 and I-75
State offers help to finish GED before rules and standards change