WARNING: This video contains graphic content.
BILLINGS, Mont. – Police dash camera video captures the moments after a Montana officer shot and killed an unarmed suspect. The video of the April 14th shooting was just released. A coroner’s jury ruled Wednesday that the shooting of Richard Ramirez by Billings Police Officer Grant Morrison was a justifiable homicide.
Police say the suspect ignored the officer’s commands to raise his hands. Morrison is heard on the tape saying “I thought he was going to pull a gun on me.”
Ramirez was a passenger during the traffic stop last April in Billings Montana. Officer Morrison says he was searching for Ramirez in connection to a shooting the night before. You can listen to the 9-11 calls from that incident here.
Morrison told the jury that he ordered the vehicle occupants to put their hands up. The officer says he immediately recognized Ramirez as a suspect in the shooting. He also says he had to tell the suspect to keep his hands up. Officer Morrison says Ramirez dropped his left hand several times.
“I told him I was going to shoot him if he didn’t listen to me and put his hands up.” Officer Morrison says in a Billings Gazette article.
He was later found to be unarmed. Ramirez’s mother says that her family disagrees with the decision. She doesn’t understand why her son was shot.
A test conducted after the suspect’s death revealed he had a dose of meth in his system that could be lethal to some.
