Police Shoot Man to Death Outside Home

BUENA PARK — Police shot and killed a Buena Park man outside his home Friday morning after he threatened his mother and two police officers with a large knife, authorities said.

Eduardo Ramirez, 24, was declared dead at the scene shortly before 11 a.m., Police Sgt. Ken Coovert said.

Ramirez, a security guard, reportedly first threatened his mother inside the family home on Lee Drive, Coovert said.

At 10:42 a.m., the mother frantically called 911 seeking police help, Coovert said, and reported that her son was threatening her with a knife and appeared to be high on drugs.

Responding police parked several houses away and saw a fully dressed Ramirez outside on the driveway when they reached the house, Coovert said.

“As the officers approached the residence on foot, they were confronted by the suspect outside,” Coovert said. “They ordered him to drop the knife and they attempted to use pepper spray to control him. Neither worked.”

When Ramirez continued to move toward the officers brandishing the large, fixed-blade knife, officers opened fire with “several shots, mortally wounding him at the scene,” Coovert said.

Police markers showed 15 spent shells on the street and in the victim’s yard after the incident.

“He got close enough that he could have caused the officers harm,” Coovert said.

The mother, who was the only person in the house at the time, was not harmed.

The shooting shocked friends and neighbors who gathered on the street afterward.

They characterized Ramirez, the oldest of five children, as a good friend and companion with no criminal record, and they questioned why he was shot.

“He was my best friend and he was a good guy,” said a distraught Jim Medina, 24, also of Buena Park. Medina attended John F. Kennedy High and a continuation school with Ramirez.

“He had some problems but he was working on them. Even if he had a knife, does that mean he needs to be shot dead in front of his own home? I don’t think so,” Medina said.

Another friend, Doug Warren, 22, agreed.

“I think this shooting was unjustified,” Warren said. “I can see if he had a gun, but he just had a knife. He was a good guy.”

Medina’s mother, Linda Medina, who also knew Ramirez, called the incident “heartbreaking.”

“I’ve known him for a long time. I just think how terrible the mother must feel,” Linda Medina said.

The rapid-fire shooting disturbed the normally quiet, 35-year-old neighborhood at the eastern edge of the city, near the boundary with La Palma.

Johanna Coleman, who lives a block from the Ramirez home, said she heard what sounded like “six bangs” and saw the victim lying in the street, surrounded by police.

“It’s sad,” said Coleman, 73, who has lived in the neighborhood since 1972. “I went outside and about 10 police cars came down the street.”

Coleman said she and her husband “were just talking about how it’s so nice and quiet around here, with no problems. But not anymore.”

Police would not release the names of the officers involved in Friday’s shooting. Under city policy, both were placed on administrative leave for three days but not suspended, Coovert said.

Coovert said Friday’s incident was the first officer-involved shooting in Buena Park since October 1995. As in all officer-involved shootings, the incident will be investigated by the Orange County district attorney’s office.