DA says Raleigh officer shot suspect in self-defense. The suspect later killed himself.

A Raleigh police officer’s shooting of an alleged kidnapper in September was justified, according to a report from Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman.

Sgt. Rodney L. Warner “acted in self defense” when he shot Hugo Cortes-Ramirez in the leg on Sept. 24, Freeman said.

In a separate letter, Freeman wrote the agent in charge of the investigation at the State Bureau of Investigation, saying evidence indicated that Cortes-Ramirez died as a result of a self-inflicted gunshot.

The district attorney’s report says Warner shot Cortes-Ramirez after he pointed a gun at the officer.

Police believed Cortes-Ramirez, 23, allegedly kidnapped his ex-girlfriend, the report says. Officers attempted a traffic stop of Cortes-Ramirez’s vehicle, but he drove away. When they approached the vehicle again near the intersection of Capital Boulevard and Buffalo Road, he drove off again, according to the report.

Police, including Warner, pursued the vehicle, which was stopped by the deployment of traffic sticks by the State Highway Patrol near U.S. 264 and the Beltline.

After the vehicle stopped, Cortes-Ramirez pointed a gun at Warner and then ran toward the woods. Warner took out his own gun and shot Cortes-Ramirez in the leg, as he continued into the woods. A gunshot was then heard from the woods, the report says.

Police found Cortes-Ramirez’s body in the woods with two gunshot wounds, one to the leg and one to the head. The one to the head was from close range, according to the report.

Another officer said he saw Cortes-Ramirez point a gun at Warner. Police dash cam video shows Cortes-Ramirez running toward the woods with an object in his right hand and then pointing it at Warner, according to the report.

The woman that Cortes-Ramirez allegedly kidnapped told police that he said he was either going to kill himself or get himself killed in an altercation with the police, the report says.

Body camera battery died

An early report from the incident says Warner was wearing a body camera, but the battery was dead, The News & Observer previously reported.

Earlier this year on April 20, Senior Officer W.B. Edwards failed to turn on his body camera when he fatally shot Soheil Mojarrad, 30, who was brandishing a knife at him.

Raleigh police introduced a policy requiring that cameras be passively recording all the time, even if officers do not activate them, The News & Observer previously reported.

Freeman asked that the case be closed with the State Bureau of Investigation.

“Mr. Ramirez died from what the evidence substantiates was a self-inflicted gunshot,” she said.

This story was originally published December 10, 2019 at 4:44 PM.