Who wanted Nicki Lenway dead? That was the question police were asking on the evening of April 20,2022. Around 7:30 p.m., Lenway had pulled into the parking lot of FamilyWise parenting center to pick up her 5-year-old son, Callahan. She was halfway between her car and the door when she was ambushed from behind and shot multiple times at point-blank range.

Nicole “Nicki” Lenway, a crime scene investigator for the Minneapolis Police Department, was gunned down in broad daylight and left for dead in a parking lot. The shooting was captured on camera.

Miraculously, Lenway survived, telling “48 Hours” correspondent Erin Moriarty, “I fell to the ground. … and the shooter stands over me and continues to try to shoot.” The mystery of who tried to kill Lenway is unraveled in “Who Wanted Nicki Lenway Dead?” A 30-minute encore airs Saturday, Nov. 22, at a special time – 10:30/9:30c – following the NWSL Championship on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.

After firing at Lenway – hitting her in the arm and neck – the shooter fled. Left bleeding and struggling to breathe, Lenway called 911, but when the operator answered Nicki realized she was unable to speak.

Nicki Lenway was no stranger to violence. The 33-year-old worked crime scenes for the Minneapolis Police. But she never imagined she’d find herself on the other side of an examination. “I knew that this coudl happen … but I didn’t want to believe it would,” she tells Moriarty.

Across the street from were Lenway was gunned down, Emilie Clancy was in her car at a red light and had witnessed the whole thing. “There was, um, a person who ran up to another person. … I heard two bangs and that other person collapsed,” she said. When the light turned green, Clancy pulled up next to Lenway.

Nicki Lenway Shooting: A Case of Mistaken Accusation

The investigation gained momentum when officers discovered security footage from FamilyWise and two nearby buildings. The first images showed Nicki Lenway arriving to pick up her son, followed by someone in all black with a mask running her down from behind. A bank camera across the street captured the shooting itself. The shooter then fled on foot and in a black Dodge Ram truck. Unfortunately, the truck lacked license plates, obscuring the driver’s identity.

Police interviewed Lenway in the hospital the following day. When asked about potential suspects, she immediately accused Tim Amacher. Amacher, a respected local taekwondo instructor, seemed an unlikely suspect.Investigators knew he was inside FamilyWise during the shooting, making it unachievable for him to be the shooter.

Despite this, Lenway detailed a history of conflict with Amacher, including allegations of abuse – “One night he threw me against the wall holding my neck” – and a contentious custody battle over their son. The battle culminated in a fall 2020 trial where the judge awarded Lenway sole legal and physical custody.