The shooting and killing has been determined to be “justified”
A Montana jury has found that Grant Morrison‘s actions during his very brief encounter with 38-year old Richard Ramirez, which included fatally shooting Ramirez three times as he sat, unarmed, in the back of a police car, were “justified.”
Morrison, a Billings Police Officer, says he “knew in that moment, which later was determined to be untrue, but I knew in that moment that he [Ramirez] was reaching for a gun. I couldn’t take that risk. … I wanted to see my son grow up”
Another Billings detective theorized that Ramirez may have been trying to stash something when he was confronted by Morrison–during what was a routine traffic stop, according to Yahoo!–who had drawn his gun and asked Ramirez to get his hands in the air. In the above video clip, you can clearly hear Morrison instruct Ramirez to get his hands up, and threatening to take drastic action. “I’ll shoot you!” screams Morrison. As it turns out, Ramirez was high on methamphetamine, and a syringe along with more drugs was discovered near him in the seat after the shooting.
In 2013, Morrison fatally shot a man while on duty, and was cleared of any wrongdoing in that case as well.
