Family prepares for dual funeral after suicide, crash

Elisha Anderson | Detroit Free Press

EASTPOINTE, Mich. -- Pictures of Rose Tucker's three children were spread across a table in her Eastpointe home Monday.

They showed happy times: a wedding, high school graduation and family snapshots — all moments now in stark contrast to the devastation the family is experiencing after her youngest two children died on Sunday.

Ricky Tucker, 20, was killed in a car crash that morning as he rushed to the hospital to check on his sister, Brenda Tucker, 21, who shot herself in the neck at a bar on Detroit's east side where she worked. Family members said she had suffered from depression for years.

Her death was ruled a suicide, and his death was ruled an accident, a spokeswoman for the Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office said Monday.

"I cry all day," Rose Tucker, 43, told the Free Press. "I don't know what to do, so I'm lost."

Their deaths followed another family tragedy six months earlier — one that Rose Tucker says forever changed her family. She was fighting with her fiancé, James Hickey, who had lived with the family for 18 years, on April 20.

"Ricky came in there and pulled James off the top of me," she said. "Then James pulled a gun out on him first, shot at him and Ricky shot back."

The bullet hit Hickey, 37, in the chest and killed him, officials said.

The Wayne County Prosecutor's Office ruled that Ricky Tucker acted in lawful self-defense, and no charges were filed.

But Hickey's death took a toll on the family — and on Ricky and Brenda Tucker, who considered him a stepfather.

"They've both been messed up since that happened," their mom said.

Ricky and Brenda both attempted suicide after the shooting, and it divided relatives, some of whom stopped speaking to the family, she recalled through tears.

Early Sunday, Rose Tucker got a call from her son, who also was at the Texas Bar & Grill on Kercheval. He said Brenda Tucker had a gun.

She went to the bar, where she also works, but got another call from Ricky Tucker before she made it there. This time, he said his sister had shot herself. Relatives say it happened in a back room of the bar.

Rose Tucker arrived before the ambulance and went to the hospital after her daughter was taken there. She soon learned her son had been involved in an accident.

"I went out front to have a cigarette, and I watched them bring Ricky," she said.

The family plans to holds a joint funeral for the siblings, who relatives say often argued.

"I'm just going to have them cremated together," Rose Tucker said. "That way they can still argue with each other every day."

Ricky Tucker loved to play cards, gamble and was into music. According to online court records, he was scheduled to be sentenced next week for home invasion, which his family said stemmed from an incident at a relative's house.

Brenda Tucker wanted to be a social worker and liked to shop and travel.

Brenda and Ricky Tucker adored their young nephew and niece, ages 5 and 2.

Both also had permanent tributes to Hickey. Across his wrist, Ricky had a tattoo that said "RIP James." Brenda Tucker and one of her sisters — Rose Tucker's oldest child — had tattoos that read: "Infinity and beyond."

"It was kind of a little tribute to our stepdad," said Amandajo Holman, 24. "Life is to infinity and beyond."

Contributing: Free Press reporter Gina Damron