Raleigh police officer who shot, injured armed suspect fired gun 18 times, report says

A Raleigh police officer who had heard gunshots fired his weapon 18 times when he shot a man who refused to drop his gun Saturday night on Rock Quarry Road, according to a report released Friday by Police Chief Estella Patterson.

The man who was shot, Ranses Vacramontes Vargas, remains in the hospital. He is a suspect in a shooting that injured two women in a domestic dispute, police say.

During the incident, the police officer, M.L. Berg, also accidentally shot a person sitting in a parked truck that the suspect took cover behind, the report states. The two injured women and the man in the truck have been treated and released from the hospital.

Berg was wearing a body camera, and the Raleigh Police Department has asked a judge to release it, as state law requires before it can be shared.

The shooting is being investigated by the State Bureau of Investigation, which will report its findings to the district attorney’s office, as well as by the Police Department. The officer has been placed on administrative leave pending those investigations.

Here is what police say happened.

911 call received

A 911 call came in at 10:30 p.m. Saturday reporting gunshots in the area of Vardaman and Hightower streets, which is near the 800 block of Rock Quarry Road.

Berg and Police Officer B.W. Keaton were dispatched, and after finding no evidence of a shooting on those streets, Berg proceeded to Rock Quarry Road.

At 10:50 p.m., Berg heard multiple shots from a parking lot and called in “shots fired” over the police radio. He drew his gun and headed toward where the shots were fired.

“Preliminary review of Officer Berg’s body-worn camera footage indicates that within seconds of the shots being fired, Officer Berg saw a male subject, wearing dark clothing and holding what appeared to be a firearm in his hand, quickly emerge from between two parked vehicles,” the police chief’s report states.

Suspect told to drop gun

Berg identified himself as a police officer and ordered Vargas several times to drop the gun and place his hands on his head, according to the report.

Instead, Vargas walked, then ran toward a red pickup truck parked in the lot, moving behind the truck while holding the gun.

“At the time, it did not appear that the red pickup truck was occupied, as its lights were not on, and it did not appear to be running,” the report states. “Officer Berg was left standing in the middle of the parking lot without any cover.”

Berg fired at Vargas, striking both him and the truck.

Suspect and man in truck shot

Keaton reached the scene, and he and Berg saw movement in the truck.

They pointed their weapons at the truck and ordered the two people inside to show their hands.

As they got closer, they saw Vargas on the ground injured. They handcuffed him and saw a man in the driver’s seat had been accidentally shot by Berg, the report states.

The officers provided first-aid to the two men who had been shot until Emergency Medical Services personnel arrived. The other person in the truck was not injured.

The report does not say how many times Vargas or the man in the truck were struck.

Two women found shot

The officers then discovered the two women who had been shot, the report continues.

One was in the driver’s seat of a gray pickup truck parked outside a strip mall on Rock Quarry Road, and the other was standing nearby.

Investigators say Vargas had shot the first woman as she sat in the truck and the second woman, with whom he’d had a relationship, as she tried to run away.

Police found a gun on the ground next to Vargas and ammunition in his pants pocket that was consistent with shell casings near where the two women were shot, the report states.

Vargas is charged with two counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury.

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This story was originally published February 16, 2024 at 4:11 PM.