SEE IT: Montana cop breaks down in tears after fatally shooting unarmed suspect
Officer Grant Morrison shot and killed suspect Richard Ramirez in April after the 38-year-old, who was high on meth, failed to comply with the cop’s orders on Billings’ South Side, officials said. A patrol cruiser’s dashcam caught the officer break down after the shooting, bury his head in his hands and admit, ‘I thought he was going to pull a gun on me.’
BY MEG WAGNER
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Monday, January 12, 2015, 9:28 AM
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A Montana cop who fatally shot an unarmed robbery suspect broke down in tears moments after the killing, dashcam video showed.
Newly released footage from the scene of the April shooting in Billings showed Officer Grant Morrison sob and say, “I thought he was going to pull a gun on me.”
Morrison shot and killed 38-year-old Richard Ramirez, a robbery and shooting suspect who was high on meth, after the alleged criminal failed to comply with the cop’s orders, the Billings Gazette reported.
On Wednesday, a jury ruled the police shooting justified.
"It’s the hardest decision I've ever had to make," Morrison said during his testimony. "I wish I didn't have to make it. I wish I just knew he didn't have a gun, but I couldn't take the risk."
Morrison pulled over the car on April 14 while patrolling Billings’ South Side. He didn’t know Ramirez — who was wanted for a robbery and shooting the day earlier — was in the vehicle, he said in court.
The cop found four people were inside. The backseat right passenger wouldn’t stop moving as Morrison approached the car. He looked like he was going to get out, Morrison said.
Morrison ordered all four to put their hands up.
They did, but the same passenger — who Morrison then realized was Ramirez — kept dropping his left hand to his waist.
It looked like the robbery suspect was reaching for a gun, Morrison said.
The officer warned him he’d shoot if he didn’t stop moving.
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He didn’t comply.
Morrison fired three times. Ramirez was unarmed at the time.
An autopsy showed the fatal shot hit Ramirez’s chest and punctured his lung. A toxicology report showed he died with a dose of meth in his system, officials said.
Minutes after the shooting, dashcam video from a second cop’s car showed an emotional Morrsion explain the situation.
“I thought he was going to pull a gun on me,” he told another cop. The video showed a sobbing Morrison bury his head in his hands as he stood next to the patrol car.
“Maybe he was, maybe he was,” the other officer told him. “Jesus, Grant. You survived.”
Since the April shooting, Morrison has returned to duty.
Ramirez's mother, Betty Ramirez, said her family disagrees with the jury’s Wednesday decision not to charge Morrison.
“Officer Morrison is the one that killed him. He was just a good person, and they didn't have to do that to him,” she told the newspaper.
