Denver police officer pleads guilty to third-degree assault in 2022 shooting that injured 6

A Denver police officer who fired at an armed man in the street as a crowd of people poured out of nightclubs in downtown Denver — wounding six bystanders — pleaded guilty Tuesday morning.

Brandon Ramos pleaded guilty in Denver District Court to third-degree assault, a misdemeanor. Under terms of a plea agreement, he faced up to one year in jail. Ramos, 30, was instead sentenced to 18 months of probation and will no longer be qualified to serve as a peace officer, Judge Nikea T. Bland said. 

Ramos originally faced 14 charges, including a top charge of second-degree assault which carries a sentence up to six years in prison, after a grand jury indicted him. Those charges were dismissed under the agreement. 

The July 2022 shooting sparked outrage across the city after surveillance and body camera footage showed dozens of people scattering to the street and some crawling across the sidewalk trying to seek cover behind a food truck when Ramos and two other Denver police officers fired seven rounds at 21-year-old Jordan Waddy. 

The officers were assigned to patrol the busy area in the early hours and saw Waddy fighting outside the Larimer Beer Hall at 20th and Larimer streets and what appeared to be a gun in his hoodie or waistband.

The other two officers were not charged.

“The court is also very clear that this was not an intentional act by officer Ramos, however, it is incredibly difficult and tragic not only for the victims but also for the city,” Bland said. “And as a citizen of this city, it’s really polarized the community in a way that is not helpful to us to continue to grow together.”

Though Ramos will not serve time in jail, Bland called the plea agreement “life-altering.”

“As a civil servant, I know how difficult it is to give up a career that you really care about and you have spent your life looking for in order to do something else. And so, I do wish you well in your new path,” Bland said. 

Six bystanders were hurt, with injuries ranging from superficial cuts and graze wounds to more serious arm and leg injuries. 

Willis Small IV, one of the bystanders who was shot, said holding Ramos accountable would represent “one small step toward a safer society.” 

“It was only by the grace of God nobody was killed on the night an officer unleashed bullets into a crowd of innocent civilians,” Small said in court. “If I or anybody in the room without a badge had been ill-minded enough to discharge a firearm in public and happen to strike an individual, we’d either be dead or in jail awaiting our transfer to prison.”

Small, who was near the beer hall when police began shooting, went to the hospital after a bullet or a fragment of a bullet pierced his left foot through his shoe.

Bailey Alexander, another victim, asked the judge to issue the maximum sentence, explaining how the trauma from the shooting still affects her a year and a half later. Alexander was shot in her back and the bullet came out her arm. 

“The police shot me and five other innocent bystanders. The police. How is that possible?” Alexander said. “We can blame their training and we blame the bad guy, but in the end, it was a police bullet that hit me and it was a police officer that had pulled the trigger. It was Mr. Ramos that pulled the trigger.”

Ramos, who appeared in court, did not speak during the roughly 25-minute hearing. 

Police previously said Ramos, who was hired by the department in 2019, was aware of the people standing behind Waddy before he shot. A grand jury and Denver District Attorney Beth McCann called Ramos’ decision to shoot “reckless, unreasonable and unnecessary for the purpose of protecting himself or others” and that he “consciously disregarded an unjustifiable risk of injury to the crowd.” 

The same grand jury that voted to charge Ramos concluded that the other two officers used a “reasonable degree of force” and should not face charges.

Yekalo Weldehiwet said he was stuck in “a maze of emotions” and that it was hard to find his way out. Memories keep flooding back from the night of the shooting when a bullet went through his biceps and shattered the bone in his upper arm when he was in downtown Denver with his fiancee, celebrating her brother’s 23rd birthday. “The world doesn’t seem as safe or familiar as it used to be,” Weldehiwet said. “It’s like I’ve lost something and finding my way back seems really tough.”