On January 10th, Rico Ruiz-Altamirano, a 33-year-old man, was shot and killed by five officers outside a gas station located in the 3300 block of West Hammer Lane. Here is the body cam footage from that night.
According to the police, they received a call from someone who reported that Ruiz-Altamirano was threatening them with a handgun. Ruiz-Altamirano himself also called the police and claimed to be armed with a firearm. He then displayed his gun to a store worker and said he intended to take them hostage. The officers began negotiating with him, but he remained armed and wearing body armor throughout the encounter.
At one point, Ruiz-Altamirano removed his body armor and told negotiators to take his life while holding his gun. Despite repeated statements from one of the officers that he did not want to shoot Ruiz-Altamirano, the situation escalated when Ruiz-Altamirano pointed his gun at an uninvolved citizen who had driven into the parking lot. The police then fired on Ruiz-Altamirano, who died at the scene despite attempts to save him.
Police recovered his loaded 40-caliber handgun and body armor, but he did not fire any shots, and no officers or bystanders were injured.
