Police: Suspect Brandished Gun Before Being Shot
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Authorities released more details Friday about a fatal shooting of a man they say brandished a gun at a veteran Sebastopol police officer.
Pablo Perez Ramirez, 25, was shot Thanksgiving Day by officer Dennis Colthurst, who was responding to a domestic disturbance call at an apartment complex in Sebastopol around 11:30 a.m., Santa Rosa police Lt. Craig Schwartz said.
Perez was shot after he refused to follow the officer's commands and brandished the gun, Schwartz said.
Colthurst fired three times, though police have not said how many times Perez was hit. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
A loaded handgun was found near Perez after the shooting, investigators said.
Ramirez, a Petaluma resident, has previous convictions for carrying a loaded firearm in 2005, and for driving under the influence of alcohol in 2007, according to Schwartz.
He was released from local custody into the custody of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement in 2007, 2008 and 2010, Schwartz said.
Colthurst, 60, is a 31-year veteran of the Sebastopol Police Department.
He was named the Sebastopol Police Officer of the Year in 1989 and 2006 and was honored by the American Red Cross in 2007 for rescuing nine children from an abusive home, Sebastopol police Chief Jeff Weaver said in an email to The Associated Press.
Colthurst was also honored by Mother Against Drunk Drivers in 2007 for making more DUI arrests in 2006 than any other Sebastopol police officer, Weaver said.
He has been placed on administrative leave, standard procedure following an officer-involved shooting.
The shooting was the first fatal officer-involved shooting in the history of the department that he was aware of, Weaver said.
Santa Rosa police were not involved in the shooting but were investigating, along with the Sonoma County district attorney's office, as part of a local protocol for officer-involved shootings.
Sebastopol is a small town just outside of Santa Rosa, or about 60 miles north of San Francisco. Its police department is comprised of fourteen full-time sworn police officers and eight reserve police officers, as well as seven non-sworn employees, and approximately 30 volunteers.
(Copyright 2011 The Associated Press)
