On a Saturday night in May of 2000, a dedicated police investigator named Hugo Fernando Arango, a 24-year-old male, was working in Doraville, Georgia. His life was cut tragically short while he was looking into a report of people breaking into cars. That evening, on May 13, 2000, Investigator Arango was at the Eclipse nightclub on Buford Highway when a patron alerted him to two suspicious individuals in the parking lot.
While questioning them, a struggle broke out.
During the confrontation with one of the men, a man later identified as Bautista Toledo Ramirez, Investigator Arango discovered a handgun. A fight for control of the weapon ensued, during which Arango was shot in the leg. As he lay wounded, he was shot again, this time with the bullet striking his badge. The encounter ended when Ramirez shot Investigator Arango in the head. The two suspects then fled the scene, but in their haste, one of them left a wallet behind which proved to be a crucial piece of evidence for the police.
A massive manhunt involving over 500 officers was launched to find the suspects. Five days after the shooting, Bautista Toledo Ramirez was apprehended. He was subsequently charged with capital murder for the death of Investigator Arango. After his arrest, Ramirez confessed to the killing. On June 25, 2003, he was sentenced to life in prison. Later, while incarcerated, he was also convicted of running a drug trafficking ring from behind bars. Investigator Arango had served with the Doraville Police Department for six years and was survived by his parents, three sisters, and a girlfriend.
