Who was Roger Ramundo?
First of all, those who knew him called him by his middle name, Jeremy. On Wednesday, July 24, Jeremy was shot and killed by a Cincinnati Police Officer in what the CPD is describing as a violent, “life or death struggle,” with a mentally ill, violent and heavily armed man. Those who knew Roger Jeremy Ramundo, however, remember him very differently.
Thirty-two-year-old Jeremy lived in a Clifton gaslight home with his mother, Peggy, and he liked to eat on the patio at neighborhood bar Arlin’s Bar and Grill, the same place where he lost his life in a struggle with police just blocks away from his home.
An acquaintance of the family, who asked to remain unnamed, described Ramundo as a gentle, bright and mild-mannered young man with good social skills.
Ramundo formerly worked up the street at Bruegger’s Bagels, where current CityBeat arts & culture editor Jac Kern worked with him from 2007-2008. “I always knew him to be a kind, gentle person,” she says, recalling his fondness for discussing politics and attentive listening skills.
According to Kern, Ramundo was in a car accident years before that left him with debilitating vision and hearing problems. He had also been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and generalized anxiety disorder, both of which he’d been prescribed medications for.
But nobody, it seemed, suspected he’d be the type of person to be involved in a deadly police shootout. The Cincinnati Police Department today held a press conference on the incident, during which Cincinnati Police Interim Chief Paul Humphries described the actions of the five officers involved in the shootout as by-the-book, even heroic.
What Humphries accounts began as an argument between Ramundo his mother at their home on Thrall Avenue, a few blocks from Arlin’s, which escalated shortly after Ramundo refused to go to his doctor’s appointment, according to a 911 call made by a health care representative from the medical facility where Ramundo’s appointment was scheduled. According to the health care representative, Ramundo’s mother called her looking for help, explaining he’d become belligerent following her requests to go to his appointment. She said he had been willfully not taking his psychiatric medications, although it’s unclear for how long.
In the 911 call, the health care representative says Peggy told her Ramundo had begun threatening her, saying that if she called the cops, there would be a “bloodbath.” She saw him take off up Ludlow Avenue and said on the phone call she believed he was carrying his registered gun, a Sig Sauer .40 caliber pistol, and guessed he might be on his way to his go-to hangout spot.
Officers Jayne Snelling and William Springer followed the mother’s tip and found him sitting on the back patio at Arlin’s.
An Arlin’s bartender named Jocelyn was working that day and recalls Ramundo coming in somewhat agitated. “He was asking about his glasses,” she says. “He seemed frustrated about losing them, and he had me call another bartender to see if they were here somewhere. After that, he asked for a glass of water, walked outside and that was that."
Jocelyn continued: “I’m in total shock. He was just a sweet kid,” she said, although she couldn’t remember seeing him in the bar for about three months prior.
In total, five CPD officers were dispatched to the scene, two of whom have had past positive experiences with Ramundo, including Officer Snelling and Officer Bryan Gabel, who later fired the shots that killed him.
The physical struggle began after peace-making efforts failed, Humphries says. Officers reported they saw Ramundo reaching toward his waistband, where he held his pistol.
Gabel was the first to make physical contact with Ramundo, trying to “control his arm,” according to Humphries. That led the other officers to become involved in a scuffle that shortly thereafter prompted Officer Kelly Jackson to deploy a five-second Taser sting to Ramundo’s back, which they say sent Ramundo to the ground.
Jackson again deployed her Taser onto Ramundo’s back, which, according to Humphries, had little to no effect after the initial five-second deploy. On a third attempt, the Taser failed to work, according to Humphries, at which point Jackson signaled another officer to deploy another Taser.
Snelling attempted to do so, but mistakenly Tased another officer in the struggle, who was on top of Ramundo’s back. Gabel allegedly saw Ramundo raise his gun, when he fired his first and only shot. Officer Reginald Lane had taken the Tased officer's spot on top of Ramundo, attempting to subdue him and retrieve his gun. That's when Humphries says all five officers saw him trying to bring the gun up again, this time aimed toward the officers.
Gabel fired two shots into Ramundo’s lower left back. He died in the hospital three hours later.
Humphries says Ramundo was also carrying two magazines, mace and a folding knife.
His mother, the acquaintance says, is an outspoken advocate on mental health issues, particularly Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), on which she’s published a book. Peggy “always spoke preciously” of Jeremy, the acquaintance notes.
Bipolar disorder, when untreated, can cause those affected to experience “mood episodes,” which, in severe cases, sometimes result in impulsive, violent behavior. An estimated 2.3 million Americans suffer from bipolar disorder.
