Man Gets Fatally Shot by Police After Using Woman as Human Shield

** (Disclaimer: Video posted strictly for educational and information purposes only) **
Greenville County Sheriff Will Lewis on Friday released dash camera video of a deadly shootout that happened in front of a White Horse Road funeral home last month. During a news conference, Lewis said deputies fired shots after responding to a 911 call on July 14 of an armed man chasing a woman and firing shots at her, Lewis said. Authorities said the suspect, identified as Ramiro Bravo Ramirez, 34, shot Candy Rosario, 25, as she ran across White Horse Road. According to Lewis, Ramirez began firing at deputies as soon as they arrived on scene at the parking lot of the Thomas McAfee Funeral Home on 6710 White Horse Road in the Berea community. Lewis described the incident as a “domestic violence case” and said he didn’t think the shooting could have been prevented. He said the two may have been in a relationship.

“Mr. Ramirez was going to shoot the victim,” Lewis said. “Nothing was going to stop him from doing that. He came to do battle that day.” Lewis said Ramirez had two magazines and reloaded his gun during the course of the gun fight. Ramirez also used Rosario’s body as a barricade to prevent from being shot, Lewis said. “‘He came with the intention to kill that woman,” the sheriff said. A total of nine deputies exchanged fire with Ramirez, Lewis said. The deputies were placed on administrative leave and were reinstated to full duty July 25. “After an internal investigation was completed through our the Office of Professional Responsibility, it was determined protocols of the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office were met, and there were no policy violations,” Lewis said.

The Coroner’s Office has ruled Ramirez”s death a suicide and not a suicide by police. Ramirez died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, the Coroner’s Office said. Rosario, 25, who survived the initial shooting, died in the hospital about an hour later of a gunshot wound to the head, said Kent Dill, a Greenville County deputy coroner. Lewis said he released the dash cam video over because it was “all encompassing.” Body camera footage of the shooting, however, would not be released because of its graphic content, Lewis said. The six-minute video was pulled from a deputy’s in-car camera and shows the entire shootout as it unfolds in front of the funeral home. The video shows Ramirez firing his gun from behind Rosario, and the hood and of the deputy’s patrol car getting struck. Rosario appears to be alive during the exchange.

As Ramirez reloads his weapon, a deputy on the other side of the funeral home returns fire. Dozens of shots are exchanged over the next 50 seconds until a deputy shouts, “Hold fire!” Deputies wearings bulletproof vests then converge on the pair and pull Rosario away from the Ramirez and administer aid to her. The entire encounter lasts about one minute and 12 seconds. The Greenville News published an edited version of the video Friday afternoon out of respect for Rosario’s family. During the news conference, Lewis said he called an emergency meeting Thursday with the newly formed Citizen’s Advisory Board to review the footage from video and get feedback. Lewis said their general reaction was “shock” and “disbelief that a human being could actually do something like that to another on the side of the road.” The State Law Enforcement Division is still investigating the shooting.

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** (Disclaimer: This video content is intended for educational and informational purposes only) **