MUSCLE SHOALS, Ala. (WAAY) -- A family in Muscle Shoals is mourning the unexpected loss of a father after an early morning home invasion.

Three masked men busted right through the front door of Harry Ricks and his family on Gate 6 road, near the wise alloy plant. Ricks, 42, was shot and killed during the incident. 

Colbert County Sheriff Ronnie May said the men broke in around 1 a.m. and duct-taped and zip-tied Ricks, his wife and their 14-year-old daughter.

When the men went into another room to look for money, Ricks got up to run for help. That's when police said one of the men shot and killed him.

The brutal killing has sent shockwaves throughout the close knit community. Most people in the neighborhood were outside consoling one another and finding out what happened early Tuesday morning.

Meanwhile, family and friends of Ricks couldn't figure out why someone would take the life of the father and husband.

"He's a nice, gentle kind of person, never done nothing to nobody," said relative Kristy Jones.  "Never would hurt nobody. Only thing he'd do was help a person."

Concerned and scared, neighbors like Mary Bean are looking at their street differently now.

"It's just a sad situation and it hurts us and it hurts the neighborhood," she said.

Bean said these days, they never know who's coming into their neighborhood and what they might do. And now, there's a family grieving instead of celebrating holidays inside their home.

"With a young mother and somebody done come in and took the daddy from them and took a husband from her," Bean said. "It's very sad."

Rita Ricks and her children are now staying with family while sheriff's investigators look for the men who invaded this house with guns and flashlights.

"We're going to keep searching for the truth until we're able to determine who these people are and have them charged so they can pay for what they've done," May said.

Ricks' body was taken to Huntsville for an autopsy. May said that information should tell investigatorsl what caliber weapon was used, and maybe even a brand name. That, along with footprints and fibers from the house, could help them track down the killers.

Until then, Bean said she'll be there to help the family.

"I'm gonna do what I can for them," she said. "That's what I supposed to do as a neighbor, as a human being and as a Christian."

Reporter: Candace White
Web Editor: Dana Franks

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