Ricardo “Ricky” Ramirez Jr., an 18-year-old Hispanic man from the Bay Area, had recently graduated from high school and was celebrating with friends. Described by his family as kind, funny, and a good kid, he was visiting Los Angeles on a summer vacation. "He was the best brother," his sister Larissa Ramirez said. His father, Ricardo Ramirez Sr., remembered his only son as someone whose journey was just beginning.
On the night of July 13, 2024, Ramirez and three friends were driving
a silver Cadillac in the Figueroa Corridor area of Los Angeles. Around 10:30 p.m., they noticed a dark, unmarked sedan with heavily tinted windows aggressively following them. After making several turns to evade the vehicle, they stopped their car near the intersection of 66th Street and Flower Street. Ramirez and another passenger, both unarmed, got out with their palms raised and approached the sedan to ask why they were being followed. A single gunshot was then fired from inside the unmarked car, through the tinted driver's window, striking Ramirez in the chest.
The shooter was an undercover Los Angeles Police Department vice sergeant, Michael Pounds, who was working in plain clothes. According to the family’s attorney, the sergeant never identified himself as law enforcement, activated no lights or siren, and issued no commands before firing. The driver of the Cadillac, unaware the shooter was a police officer, fled the scene in fear, leading to a police pursuit. Emergency responders transported Ramirez to a hospital, where he died.
The LAPD stated its vice officers were in the area conducting a prostitution enforcement operation. Police initially said Ramirez was armed, but a search of the scene yielded no firearms or other weapons. Investigators also claimed the young men were wearing ski masks, an assertion the family’s attorney has denied. The shooting is under investigation by the LAPD's Force Investigation Division and the California Department of Justice.
In August 2024, the Ramirez family announced they were filing a lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles, the police department, and Sergeant Pounds. At a press conference outside LAPD headquarters, Ramirez’s mother, Renee Villalobos, demanded accountability. "I just buried my son a day ago," she said. "And to know that he died for no reason, it makes no sense." As of August 2024, the case remains under investigation.
