Friends remember mom, tattoo artist shot and killed in Pleasant Grove

PLEASANT GROVE, Utah — A mother who investigators say was shot and killed by her son in Pleasant Grove Thursday night was a beloved friend and tattoo artist who had just recently married.

“I’m just still kind of in shock,” said Angel Tucker. “It’s tragic. It’s no words. I mean, no words. It’s horrible. It really is.”

Tucker is grateful to have more than memories to remember her good friend by. Nicki Dinehart, a tattoo artist, talked her into getting a tattoo two years ago on her foot. For Tucker, that tattoo is a symbol of their friendship.

“She was very outgoing and, you know, willing to help if you called her anytime. ‘Hey Nick, I need something. I need help. I need this.’ She was right there.” 

“It was heartbreaking,” Nikko Anderson said after hearing the news.

Anderson says she met Nicki when she sold her some furniture years ago. The two kept in touch and Anderson says she became one of Nicki’s first tattoo clients. She drew a water dragon on her shoulder that Anderson now treasures.

“I have her on me. I’m super grateful to have that.”

Friends say Nicki was just married last month. Tucker remembers seeing her with her fiancé just a week or two before the wedding.

“She was just beaming. She was happy. Things seemed great.”

Only a few weeks into her new chapter in life, it was tragically cut short.

Pleasant Grove police say Nicki’s son was at her home Thursday night, agitated and demanding money. A probable cause statement says Nicki was leaving her home to go to the bank and take her son “back to the bar.”

When the two walked out to her car, a neighbor says they heard two gunshots and then saw her son shoot her while she was on the ground.

When police arrived, they say her son — 21-year-old Gage Dinehart — was gone but then showed up at the scene and told them, “I shot my mom.”

Detectives continue to investigate the shooting, including going through surveillance video.

Gage was booked on charges of murder and obstruction of justice.