Newly released police body camera footage shows the moments Miami Police officers shot and killed a man in Little Havana back in 2024, as prosecutors called the deadly shooting legally justified.
The shooting happened before 1 p.m. on July 25, 2024, in the area of Southwest 5th Avenue and 3rd Street. Miami Police officers responded after multiple callers reported hearing gunshots and seeing a man, later identified as Ramon de Jesus Blanco, armed with a gun.
Three officers fired several gunshots, which are heard in the bodycam footage, released Tuesday by the Miami Police Department. The suspect is then seen lying on the ground, and the officers run over to handcuff him and render aid.
Blanco, 63, was pronounced dead at the scene.
In a close-out memo dated Dec. 10, the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office called the shooting legally justified, saying Blanco was armed with a revolver in a residential area and could have harmed civilians and law enforcement at the scene. Blanco also did not comply with the officers’ demands to drop his weapon, officials said.
Investigators recovered a revolver near Blanco’s body and found that it had three spent casings, which were consistent with three shots that were fired before police arrived, the memo said.
The revolver was unoperable by the time investigators recovered it, making it unclear whether Blanco fired at the responding officers, but investigators concluded that the suspect was in possession of the revolver and had recently fired the weapon, the memo stated.
“The responding officers were aware that Ramon de Jesus Blanco was armed, that he had recently fired the weapon he was holding in a dense residential neighborhood,” the memo read. “Accordingly, Sgt. Davide Bernal and Officers George Narino and Pedro Moreno reasonably believed that discharge of their firearms was necessary to prevent serious bodily harm to themselves or others. Therefore, the officers’ shooting of Ramon de Jesus Blanco was legally justified.”
Surveillance footage from before officers’ arrival shows Blanco appearing to be intoxicated, stumbling and walking in circles, with a firearm in his hand, the memo said. Family members later reported he had depression, and neighbors said Blanco was known to have mental illness and abuse alcohol.
Toxicology testing also revealed Blanco had a high level of alcohol in his bloodstream, as well as prescription medication he was taking for depression, the memo stated.
A man who was reportedly shooting in the air and at a building in Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood was shot and killed by officers Thursday afternoon, officials said.