Man shot by LAPD near Sunset Boulevard bar is charged with assault
A man shot and wounded by Los Angeles police near a Sunset Boulevard bar was charged with assault after pulling a gun during a fight that initially drew the officers’ attention, prosecutors said.
Andres Ramirez, 25, faces charges of assault with a firearm and being a felon in possession of a firearm, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office. He was scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday.
The events leading to the shooting unfolded shortly before 1 a.m. Sunday, when authorities say two gang officers driving on Sunset Boulevard saw a group of men fighting outside the Short Stop, a popular Echo Park bar not far from Dodger Stadium.
The fight began, prosecutors said, when Ramirez and nine other people approached three men outside the bar and “claimed gang territory.”
The officers stopped their patrol car to investigate, LAPD Assistant Chief Michel Moore told police commissioners Tuesday. They saw a man — later identified as Ramirez — armed with a blue-steel revolver, Moore said.
Ramirez pointed the gun at the group, then at the officers, Moore said, prompting police to shoot at the 25-year-old.
Ramirez took off running, Moore said. The officers chased him to a gas station about a block away, where police fired a second time, wounding Ramirez.
He was taken to a hospital, where he underwent surgery before he was booked in jail.
A revolver was found at the scene, not far from where Ramirez was shot, Moore said. Investigators found two security cameras that Moore said captured at least part of each shooting.
One of the men involved in the initial altercation was an off-duty LAPD officer, Moore said. The assistant chief said the LAPD would look into everyone’s actions during the altercation, including the off-duty officer’s, as part of the investigation.
Ramirez is the 21st person shot by on-duty LAPD officers this year, according to a Times analysis. Sixteen were killed.
Court records show Ramirez was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon in 2011. If convicted of the current charges, prosecutors said, he faces up to 25 years in prison.
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