SAN DIEGO (CNS) - The family of Mauricio Ramos and family attorney Stephen King were scheduled Thursday to announce the filing of a lawsuit against the San Diego Police Department and have a news conference in front of the San Diego Police Department's headquarters.
The news conference was set for 11 a.m. Thursday at police headquarters, 1401 Broadway, in downtown San Diego.
Ramos, address unknown, died June 4 at the scene of a police shooting at the San Ysidro trolley station, just north of the U.S.-Mexico border, according to SDPD public affairs.
The events that led to the fatal gunfire began shortly before 9 p.m., when police received a report of an armed man behaving erratically on a light-rail tram approaching the depot in the 700 block of East San Ysidro Boulevard.
Surveillance video captured by a security system on the Blue Line trolley shows Ramos, a one-time Ramona resident, rocking back and forth stiffly in his seat before standing up, pulling a pellet gun from his waistband, holding the pistol in the air while jumping around and then pointing it directly at the mounted camera.
After the trolley arrived at the station, two San Diego police officers approached it, guns drawn. A body-worn camera worn by one them recorded images of Ramos sitting alone inside the tram, once again jerking forward and back in his seat.
After Ramos ignored repeated orders to put up his hands and exit the trolley, one of the patrolmen, SDPD Officer Ruben Berton, opened one of its doors. Ramos then stood up, allegedly pulled his gun and raised it in the direction of the officers, prompting Berton to retreat and fire about 10 rounds from his service pistol at the suspect.
Police subsequently determined that the gun Ramos had been carrying was a "Glock style" .177-caliber BB pistol, according to an SDPD statement.
The San Diego County Sheriff's Department Homicide Unit was called to the scene to conduct the shooting investigation.
SDPD says it cannot comment on pending litigation, and its officer-involved shootings are investigated by the sheriff's department.
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