In a tragic turn of events on a December afternoon in Baton Rouge, a confrontation led to the death of 50-year-old Mito Ramirez. The incident, which took place on December 23, 2016, unfolded in the front yard of a home on Monterrey Boulevard. Ramirez, a male, had been found sleeping in the yard by two brothers who lived at the residence. What began as an attempt to wake a stranger escalated into a fatal encounter.
According to the account given to police by the alleged shooter,
21-year-old Da'Rashio Wicks, he and his brothers tried to rouse the sleeping Ramirez. They reported that upon waking, Ramirez, who was speaking Spanish, brandished a pocket knife. Wicks claimed that Ramirez then chased one of his brothers, prompting Wicks to retrieve an assault rifle. He stated that he confronted Ramirez from a distance of 30 to 40 feet and, feeling threatened as Ramirez advanced with the knife, he fired a single shot. A knife was indeed recovered near Ramirez's body at the scene.
However, witness testimonies painted a more complex and troubling picture of the moments leading up to the shooting. Onlookers reported seeing Ramirez swaying and stumbling in the yard before he fell asleep. They alleged that Wicks and his brothers attempted to wake Ramirez not gently, but by kicking and punching him. Witnesses confirmed that an angered Ramirez did chase one of the brothers after being woken so aggressively. They then saw Wicks return with a rifle and shoot Ramirez. The path of the gunshot wound to Ramirez's abdomen was also found by police to be inconsistent with Wicks's face-to-face account of the shooting.
Following the investigation into the conflicting stories, Da'Rashio Wicks was arrested and taken into custody. He was subsequently booked into the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison and charged with second-degree murder in connection with the death of Mito Ramirez.
