Prosecutors: Suspect ‘Intentionally Killed’ Sacramento Police Officer

Prosecutors on Friday charged a man suspected of fatally shooting a Sacramento police officer who was responding to a domestic violence call, saying he used an illegal assault rifle to kill her.

The suspect, Adel Sambrano Ramos, 45, was charged with felony murder in the fatal shooting of Officer Tara O’Sullivan, 26, on Wednesday afternoon, Rod Norgaard, Sacramento County district attorney, said in the criminal complaint. He will be arraigned on Monday in Sacramento County Superior Court.

O’Sullivan was “a peace officer who was intentionally killed while engaged in the performance of her duties,” Norgaard said.

The charge includes special circumstances that could subject Ramos to the death penalty.

Ramos was also charged with felony attempted murder of another Sacramento police officer, Daniel Chipp, and with two additional felonies for unlawfully possessing assault weapons — two semi-automatic AR-15-style rifles, Norgaard said.

Public defender Norm Dawson said he met briefly with Ramos but can’t comment until he gets more details in the case, The Associated Press reported.

When O’Sullivan was shot just before 6 p.m. Wednesday, she had been helping a woman collect her belongings to leave a home, said Sgt. Vance Chandler. The other woman was not hurt, and the relationship between that woman and the gunman was not known.

O’Sullivan was wounded while she was in a backyard, and officers could not reach her for about 45 minutes after she was shot because the gunman kept firing, Chandler said.

“Our officers maintained cover in safe positions until we were able to get an armored vehicle in the area,” he said.

O’Sullivan later died at UC Davis Medical Center hours after the gunman shot her — the first killing of an on-duty Sacramento police officer in 20 years. Ramos was taken into custody at about 2 a.m. Thursday after an eight-hour standoff in which he fired a rifle on and off.

Ramos, who was taken into custody about 2 a.m. Thursday, has a history of violence. He was charged with misdemeanor battery of a minor in 2018 in a case that is currently active and he pleaded guilty to battery of a spouse in 1998, said Kim Pedersen, a Sacramento Superior Court spokeswoman.

His brother, Orlando Ramos, told The Associated Press that Adel Ramos was estranged from the family, had a history of domestic violence and drug abuse, and had been in and out of jail for years. He said he hopes his older brother spends the rest of his life in prison.

According to city records, O’Sullivan had been working for the city since January 2018, The Sacramento Bee reported. She was part of the first class of graduates of Sacramento State’s Law Enforcement Candidate Scholars’ Program in 2017 and went on to the Sacramento Police Academy.

“We lost a Hornet. We lost a hero. We lost a leader,” said Dr. Robert S. Nelsen, president of California State University, Sacramento. “She had a big heart, a strong mind, a great personality. She made you smile. She is exactly what we need in the police force.”

Nelsen said a scholarship would be created in O’Sullivan’s honor.

Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg said the city is grieving.

“Tara O’Sullivan died helping another woman escape domestic violence,” he said. “She embodied the spirit of the guardian, working to protect us.”

Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement that O’Sullivan “represented the best of what we hope to be as human beings in her selfless service to the community and readiness to help those in need.

“She knew the dangers of the job, yet chose to dedicate herself at such a young age to those values anyway,” he added.

Concord police say O’Sullivan grew up in Pleasant Hill in Contra Costa County and graduated from College Park High School in 2011. She later attended Diablo Valley College.

This story includes reporting by Katie Orr and The Associated Press.

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