A grand jury cleared a Longmont Police Department officer in the fatal shooting of a suspect in December, the Boulder County District Attorney's Office said Tuesday.
The suspect, Jesus Ramos, 34, was killed December 31, 2018, in an officer-involved shooting in the 2200 block of Pratt Street in Longmont.
According to the Grand Jury report, Ramos called 911 after he fired a gun in his father's apartment and reporting having suicidal thoughts. When officers arrived at the scene, they saw Ramos and his father attempting to drive away and stopped their vehicle. Ramos told officers he had a gun and threatened to kill officers, civilians and himself.
After 10 minutes, Ramos got out of the vehicle and ran away from officers and toward an apartment building, according to the report. An officer tried to fire a less-lethal shotgun, but it didn't function correctly.
At that point, Longmont Officer Michael Kimbley fired a rifle once at Ramos. The .223 caliber gunshot hit Ramos in the lower left-back. Ramos broke into an apartment through a window and was later found dead inside.
When investigators searched the scene, they did not find a gun. Police later found the revolver used earlier in the apartment of Ramos' father. The gun was unloaded, according to the report.
After reviewing the circumstances of the incident, the Boulder County District Attorney's Office submitted the case to the grand jury in April. After its investigation, the jury submitted its decision on Aug. 29.
The grand jury concluded that Kimbley thought Ramos presented a threat to himself, officers and residents in the apartment building. The jurors decided there was no probable cause to charge Kimbley with second-degree murder, which was the charge they were asked to consider in the case.
The grand jury also said Ramos' death didn't need to happen and was "unacceptable," according to the report. The jury called for the release of a report detailing their findings, which included body-cam video from two officers, surveillance video from the nearby Moose Lodge, and the 911 call.
"These investigations are among the most important and serious -- for Mr. Ramos, the officers, their family members, and our community," said District Attorney Michael Dougherty in a statement. "It is vital that we reach the right result."
Dougherty praised the grand jurors for their work on the case over several months and that the jurors "reached the right conclusions."
H. Michael Butler, chief of Longmont Public Safety, said in a letter released with the grand jury report that he agreed with the jurors' decision to clear Kimbley of any potential charges.
"Jesus Ramos made it abundantly clear that he was going to kill police officers and innocent civilians with a gun he emphatically told us he had in his possession," Butler wrote in the letter.
"It is excruciatingly painful on many levels for any and all of us to be involved in a police officer-involved shooting, especially one that results in loss of life," Butler wrote.
He wrote that seven of the eight officers who responded to the incident, including Kimbley, had undergone training in responding to people struggling with mental health.
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