Buckeye Police: MCAO determines use of force in deadly December 2018 officer involved shooting justified

BUCKEYE, Ariz. - Officials with Buckeye Police say the Maricopa County Attorney's Office has determined the use of force in a deadly officer-involved shooting that happened in December 2018 was justified.

MCAO's findings in the investigation were announced by Buckeye Police Thursday afternoon, where they revealed additional details on what happened. The incident began to unfold at around 5:30 p.m. on December 25, when Buckeye Police received a transfer 911 call from the California Highway Patrol where the caller reported that her daughter was fighting with her boyfriend at a home on the 24200 block of W. Desert Bloom, located near the intersection of Yuma and Watson Roads, and the caller said she heard a gunshot over the phone while speaking with her daughter.

The victim later called 911, according to police, and said she was in the home with her two children, her boyfriend, and her boyfriend's mother, and said her boyfriend has "a lot of guns on him: and is "acting super crazy".

Once officers arrived, Buckeye Police officials say they managed to get the two women and two children inside outside to safety, and phone contacts were then made with the suspect, identified as 34-year-old Antonio Armando Ramos.

Ramos, according to police, made suicidal statements and refused to come out of the home. At around 6:15 p.m., a shot was heard from inside the home while Ramos was still on the phone with a sergeant, and moments later, the porch light of the home was turned off, and Ramos came out of the house and fired dozens of rounds from an assault rifle.

The shots, police say, were fired in the direction of a police officer, and into a house directly across the street. The house was empty, as renters had vacated the home two weeks before the incident. Shots fired from Ramos' weapon pierced the home.

Photo Courtesy: Buckeye Police Department

The officer, according to police, was pinned behind a tree, and was not hurt. Two other officers returned fire and struck Ramos once in the hand. Ramos then returned to the home and reloaded his weapon. A short time later, he came back out of the home, and fired his weapon again. An officer then returned fire with a department-issued AR-15. Ramos then disappeared from view.

Police officials say SWAT team members used a robot to determine Ramos was down on the ground. Ramos was later declared dead by SWAT medics at the scene. No officers were injured. A toxicology report shows Ramos had a blood alcohol level of 0.25, and a subsequent investigation discovered that Ramos had fired 50 rounds from his assault rifle.

Besides the findings from the County Attorney's Office, an internal review by Buckeye Police also found the officers involved followed police protocol and acted consistent with department policy. The five officers involved were identified as 35-year-old L. Biffin, 50-year-old D. Smith, 45-year-old J. Radloff, 36-year-old D. Grossman, and 41-year-old C. Hale.