Authorities Wednesday identified a woman who police say was shot and killed by her son in front of other family members and firefighters who had just doused a blaze at a Harbor-Gateway area home.
Clementina Ramirez, 51, died at the scene of the shooting, which occurred about 4:30 a.m. Tuesday in the 15400 block of South Orchard Avenue, according to the coroner’s office.
Firefighters sent to the scene in response a report of a house fire doused the flames in the two-story structure in 12 minutes and summoned the American Red Cross to assist four adults and a child displaced by the fire.
The woman and her son — identified by police as 27-year-old Jose Ramirez — were outside the damaged home with firefighters when they argued and she asked them to arrest the man, who told them he wanted to go back inside to get some personal items, according to Los Angeles Police Department Capt. Peter Whittingham.
“The son at that time went back inside the residence,” Whittingham said. “They believed he was going to retrieve personal effects, and he was allowed to do so. He came back out, armed with a firearm, and shot his mother multiple times in the head.”
Firefighters ran for cover and were not injured, an LAFD spokesman said.
Jose Ramirez, meanwhile, ran back inside the residence and a standoff ensued. A SWAT team was sent to the scene and LAPD officers were placed on a citywide Tactical Alert as a precaution, meaning officers could be kept on the job beyond the end of their shifts.
About 6:30 a.m., Ramirez was taken into custody with what police described as a self-inflicted gunshot wound and was hospitalized in critical condition.