Articles about "Snoop", in case anyones interested

More articles about "Snoop"/Blackbird, in case anyones interested

In case you wanted to know who Snoop was


HUNG JURY ENDS TRIAL FOR MAN CHARGED WITH FATAL ANTIOCH SHOOTING

ROBERT BURNSON
MARTINEZ

MARTINEZ - A mistrial was declared Tuesday in the case of an alleged Norteno gang member accused of participating in a shooting rampage that left one dead and four injured in a veterans hall in Antioch.

Judge Wayne Westover declared a mistrial after the jury announced it was hopelessly deadlocked with one holdout unconvinced of Gabriel Roberson's guilt.

Roberson, 20, of Antioch is charged with murder and four counts of attempted murder.

The Contra Costa County District Attorney's Office will most likely retry him, said prosecutor McGregor Scott. Westover scheduled a hearing for Thursday to set a date for a new trial.

Police say Roberson was one of six members of the West 20th Street branch of the Norteno gang who burst into the Veterans Memorial Hall in Antioch during a quincenera, a party to celebrate a girl's 15th birthday, on April 17, 1994.

Two of the young men opened fire, one with a shotgun, the other allegedly Roberson with a .38-caliber revolver.

Police said the rampage was retaliation for an alleged driveby shooting earlier in the evening in Pittsburg. Nortenos blamed Surenos for the driveby, Scott said. A known Sureno was at the quinceera but was not injured in the shooting.

The victims, including Jorge Franco, 26, killed by a bullet to the heart, were standing near the known Sureno, the prosecutor said.

One of the injured men picked out Roberson from a photo lineup and later pointed him out at trial. But no one else at the crowded party confirmed the identification a fact the prosecutor termed "peculiar."

The lone holdout on the jury panel, who asked not to be identified, said she doubted the identification because the eyewitness had testified that he had five or six beers in the course of the evening.

The jury started deliberating Friday morning.

This ones about Blackbird and Snoop



Ledger Dispatch (CA)
Copyright (c) 1998, Contra Costa Newspapers

July 11, 1998



Section: news

POLICE: HOSTAGE SUSPECT VIOLENT

RYAN KIM


ANTIOCH Carlos Joseph Ramirez, police say, is a volatile man who is suspected of killing in the past and is capable of anything.

While police late Friday maintained their perimeter around the Putnam Street home where Ramirez, 22, continued to hold his two daughters hostage, officials painted a violent picture of the man inside.

Police Capt. Kitt Schwitters said that when Ramirez surfaced again in Antioch, "I knew it was going to be a volatile situation, knowing his past.

"I believe he feels he doesn't have anything to lose," she said.

Ramirez, who police say is a Norteno gang member, is believed to have shot and killed 17-year-old Martin Maya during a Nov. 17, 1995 confrontation in downtown Antioch. Maya was with alleged gang members when he encountered a group of men including Ramirez in a parking lot.

According to witnesses, Ramirez pulled out a gun and began firing at the group, police said. Maya was shot in the head, abdomen and arm and died the next day. Two other men were injured in the shooting.

In 1994, police say Ramirez shot and injured four men outside a West 10th Street convenience store following an argument Ramirez had with another man. Police later linked casings from the scene to shells found at the scene of the Maya murder.

Police also say Ramirez was involved in a shooting on April 17, 1995 at a downtown Antioch party. In that case, a friend of Ramirez, Gabriel Roberson, was suspected of shooting and killing a Concord man. Police say this was in retaliation for an earlier 1995 shooting by rival gang members that left Ramirez's brother Raymond paralyzed.

Following the Martin Maya killing, Ramirez disappeared and it was thought he may have gone to Mexico, where he has relatives. Six months ago, however, police say they got word he may have returned to the area.

Investigators interviewed Ramirez's mother and searched her Blythe Drive home on several occasions. But they failed to find Ramirez. Police also maintained contact with his girlfriend, Cami Viramontes, 26, the mother of his two daughters, but she offered little information, said Schwitters.

"I think there was a lot of fear on her part to report him," she said.

District Attorney Investigator Jerry Sanchez said Friday's hostage incident is the first he has heard of Ramirez in almost three years.

"We wanted to bring him to justice, but he wasn't in the area, so what could you do?" said Sanchez.

A family friend of Ramirez, however, said she thinks he never left the area and remained in Contra Costa County following the Maya shooting.

"I don't think he's ever left the county," said Jennifer O'Shia, mother of Roberson. "He just loves his children too much."

Schwitters said Ramirez and Viramontes were seeing each other on and off, but it is unclear where their relationship stood Friday when Ramirez burst into Viramontes' home.

Friends and family members described Ramirez as a quiet man who was respectful to others. Cousin Cisco Ramirez, interviewed at the Police Department Friday, said Carlos Ramirez was not part of the earlier shootings attributed to him.

"He's quiet and nice and he's not what has been portrayed in the papers," he said.

Cisco Ramirez said his cousin wouldn't think of killing his daughters because he loves them too much.

"Those are his daughters, he loves those kids."

Family members at Ramirez's mother's home declined to comment.

Photo: Antioch Police Officer Steve Bias positions himself behind a lightpole off Rio Grande Drive Friday, near where suspect Carlos Joseph Ramirez was holding his children hostage. (Greg Stidham/Ledger Dispatch)

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Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek,CA)
Copyright (c) 1998, Contra Costa Newspapers

July 15, 1998



Section: News

OFFICERS STOPPED A RAMIREZ IN 1997 A MOTORIST GAVE A COSTA MESA OFFICER THE SAME NAME AS THE ANTIOCH KILLER DURING A TRAFFIC STOP, BUT A MURDER WARRANT WAS NEVER CHECKED

Robert Burnson


A Costa Mesa police officer gave a traffic ticket last year to a man who identified himself as Carlos Joseph Ramirez but did not arrest him, apparently unaware of the murder warrant waiting for him in Contra Costa County.

The traffic stop appears to have been the closest police came to arresting Ramirez who was charged two years ago with murdering a rival gang member before he killed his two daughters and himself Saturday in Antioch.

Costa Mesa police Officer Jeff McCann stopped a man identifying himself as Carlos Joseph Ramirez on June 8, 1997, for failing to signal for a turn, according to Orange County court records. The man, driving a Hyundai Excel, gave his birthdate as Oct. 21, 1975, the same as the Carlos Joseph Ramirez of Antioch.

McCann cited Ramirez for making an unsafe turn and driving without a license and without insurance, court records show. Then he let him go, apparently without checking to see whether he had any outstanding warrants.

Had he checked, he would have found that there was a Carlos Joseph Ramirez wanted by Antioch police on a $1 million arrest warrant for the November 1995 slaying of 17-year-old Martin Maya. Antioch police had posted the warrant on the state's Wanted Persons System database a year earlier, in June 1996.

So why didn't he check?

No clear answer emerged Tuesday, but the fact is that police who make traffic stops often don't check whether drivers have outstanding warrants, law enforcement officials said.

In Costa Mesa, the decision on whether to check for warrants on routine traffic stops is left up to the officers, said police spokesman Ron Smith.

"Some officers do it all the time as a matter of routine," he said. "Others do it only if there is some suspicion about the driver. Obviously in retrospect, if this was the right guy, the officer will be kicking himself."

A spokesman for the state Department of Justice, which maintains the Wanted Persons database, said it would be wrong to second-guess the officer.

"We don't know what happened," said Michael Van Winkle. "Maybe he got another call that was a higher priority. Maybe he was called to a violent crime."

Another possibility is that his on-board computer, used to check warrants, had crashed, Van Winkle said.

"It's just too bad about the kids."

Ramirez, 22, shot and killed his two daughters, 3-year-old Kayleonna and 1-year-old Kavi, and himself late Saturday in his ex-girlfriend's house in Antioch. He had broken into the house 42 hours earlier, reportedly despondent over the breakup with the woman. Police negotiated with him for hours before he started a five-second countdown and started the killing, police said.

It is unclear what Ramirez would have been doing in Costa Mesa. The man stopped by the officer gave an address on Mission Drive, but attempts to reach anyone at the address or neighbors were unsuccessful.

It is also unclear where Ramirez has been for the past two years, since he was charged with murder.

Antioch police had heard rumors that he had fled to Mexico, where he has relatives, said Deputy District Attorney John Cope. But police were never able to establish his location and arrest him.

Relatives and friends say they don't know where Ramirez has been. But last summer, when one of his former gang buddies, Gabriel Roberson, was on trial for the murder, word on the street was that Ramirez was back in town, said Deputy Public Defender Terry Mockler, Roberson's attorney.

"The rumors were that he was right there in Antioch," Mockler said.

But if he was, no one was telling police, Cope said.

Ramirez's name played prominently in the Roberson trial. Witnesses said they recognized him, although not positively, as one of the six gang members who burst into an April 1995 quinceanera celebration in Antioch and started shooting. The shooting left one dead and four injured.

In the wake of Saturday's killings, Antioch police have been talking in groups and with counselors.

"You go through that whole range (of emotions). There's sadness that these two little girls are dead, you're angry at what the suspect did, and you're frustrated that you couldn't change it," sheriff's SWAT team Cmdr. Rich Woolard said.

Counselors attempted to turn the focus away from the deaths.

"We teach them not to get into what ifs'; they're taught to make statements like, at least,'" said Shirley Marchetti of the REACH Project, which provides counselors for the Antioch police. "At least we got the neighbors out, at least we did this.' That starts to build them back up again."

Officers are prepared for another round of second-guessing, similar to what happened after Joel Souza killed himself and his two children after barricading himself in an Antioch house five years ago.

"They know they'll be held up to scrutiny and that people will rush to judgment. You learn to expect it," said police psychologist Robert Flint, who debriefed SWAT team members Sunday.

In honor of the two dead girls, Contra Costa County will fly its flags at half-staff Friday. The Board of Supervisors asked for the gesture Tuesday after hearing about Alameda County's practice of lowering its flags each time a child is killed and displaying a flag designed to commemorate children lost to violence.

Staff writers Ryan Kim, Renita Sandosham, C.K. Maclay and Larry Spears contributed to this story.

Photo, Carlos Joseph Ramirez. (AP)

ANTIOCH POLICE LINK ANOTHER CRIME TO FUGITIVE

MICHAEL SEARS
ANTIOCH

ANTIOCH An arrest warrant was filed Friday for a gang member already wanted for the 1995 slaying of a 17-year-old Antioch teen, after police linked him with a 1994 shooting at Bonfare Market that left three injured.

Carlos Joseph Ramirez, 21, has been on the run from police since he was accused of killing Martin Maya in a downtown Antioch parking lot. Now police say shell casings in that shooting match those found at the scene of a Sept. 23, 1994 shooting at the 907 West 10th Street market. Police say they have other evidence linking Ramirez to the Bonfare shooting, but refused to disclose details.

"(Ramirez) started shooting at the person he was arguing with, then just started shooting randomly at the crowd in the market," said Antioch police Detective Leonard Orman. "Witnesses say he did the same thing in the 1995 shooting."

Two of the three people shot at the Bonfare Market shooting were bystanders who were not involved in the dispute. All three survived.

Ramirez, a member of the Norteno street gang, is also suspected of involvement in the April 17, 1995, shooting at the Veteran's Hall in downtown Antioch that left a Concord man dead. Gabriel Paul Roberson, 20, of Antioch was found guilty of murder in that case.

Police learned that Ramirez might have been the shooter in the Bonfare Market incident while they were investigating the shootings at the Veteran's Hall and the 1995 downtown Antioch shooting.

The warrant filed Friday includes four counts of assault with a deadly weapon, and seven enhancements to those charges, including involvement in a street gang and great bodily harm. Bail for the warrant is set at $610,000.

Ramirez is already wanted on a $1 million murder warrant for the killing of Maya.

Ramirez was thought to be in Contra Costa County several months after the 1995 killing. But police say he could now be in Mexico, where he has friends and family.

The Bonfare Market shooting was sparked when after more than a dozen teens gathered in the parking lot around 10:30 p.m. Sept. 23, 1994. Two of the teens, including Ramirez, got in an argument. A store clerk went to the door and began waving his arms, apparently to disperse the crowd. That's when Ramirez opened fire, said police. At least four shots were fired.

Ramirez's brother was paralyzed in a separate 1995 gang shooting. The Veteran's Hall shooting in 1995 is believed to have been retaliation for that, Orman said.

Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek,CA)
Copyright (c) 1996, Contra Costa Newspapers

May 26, 1996



Section: news



IN BRIEF


Antioch

Murder suspect found

in '94 downtown shooting

Two years after a pair of gunmen turned a joyous coming-of-age birthday party for a girl into the largest gang-related shooting in city history, police say they've found the killer.

Police say they have linked Gabriel Paul Roberson, 19, to the April 17, 1994, shooting at the Veterans Hall downtown. The shooting left one man dead and four wounded.

Roberson, who is serving a prison sentence in Susanville for a December 1994 robbery in Antioch, was linked to the shooting by one of his surviving victims, said Antioch Police Sgt. Bob Barmore. The witness picked Roberson's photo out of a group of mugshots, Barmore said.

Roberson has not yet been given a date for arraignment. He has been charged with one count of murder and four counts of attempted murder, according to court records.

Police believe the shooting may have been a retaliation by Norteno gang members for a shooting in Pittsburg a few hours before thought to be carried out by rival Surenos.

But the gathering at the Veterans Hall had nothing to do with gangs, said police. The man killed, 27-year-old Jorge Franco, was not a gang member. Nor were any of the four wounded men, Barmore said.

^^^yea, just PM me with some key terms and the year it happened and ill supply you with the info.

Here are a few articles about Raymond Ramirez, Blackbirds brother who was shot and paralyzed and eventually died. A lot of Woodie songs are about the incident described in the articles.


Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek,CA)
Copyright (c) 1999, Contra Costa Newspapers

August 3, 1999

MAN INJURED IN 1994 SHOOTING DIES POLICE SAY THE CASE WILL BE RECLASSIFIED AS A MURDER IF AN AUTOPSY LINKS RAYMOND RAMIREZ'S DEATH TO THE WOUND THAT PARALYZED HIM


The cause of death for an Antioch man, who was paralyzed in a 1994 drive-by shooting and who died this past weekend, is inconclusive pending tissue and toxicology tests.

If tests confirm that Raymond Ramirez, 24, died as a result of the gunshot wound he received April 16, 1994, police said they will reclassify the case as a homicide.

In 1994, Ramirez was shot in the lower back while standing outside a party on Madoline Street in Pittsburg, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down.

He was pronounced dead at 5:23 a.m. Saturday at Kaiser Permanente in Walnut Creek. It is unclear why he was admitted to the hospital. Kaiser officials would not say how he got to the hospital.

Coroner's officials said the test results will be completed in six to eight weeks.

Pittsburg Lt. William Zbacnik said even if Ramirez's death is linked to the wound, there is no suspect.

Witnesses at the time were unable to identify a shooter and no clues have surfaced. The case is suspended barring any new leads, said Zbacnik.

Ramirez's brother, Carlos Ramirez, made headlines in July 1998 after he took his two daughters hostage and held police at bay for 1 1/2 days. Carlos Ramirez fatally shot his two daughters and then turned the gun on himself.




Death complicates 1994 shooting case

Antioch Tissue and toxicology tests may determine whether Antioch police treat a 5-year-old shooting case as a homicide.

Raymond Ramirez, 24, was paralyzed in a drive-by shooting in 1994. He died Saturday. An autopsy did not determine whether he died from his old wounds, but further tests might, police said.

Even if his death were a homicide, police said they have no suspects.

Ramirez's brother Carlos made headlines in July 1998 when he took his two daughters hostage and then killed them before shooting himself.




San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Copyright 1999 The San Francisco Chronicle

August 3, 1999



Section: NEWS

'94 SHOOTING COULD NOW BE MURDER CASE PITTSBURG MAN'S MYSTERIOUS DEATH

Charlie Goodyear, Chronicle Staff Writer
PITTSBURG

What started off as an assault case five years ago could turn into a homicide after a 24-year-old Pittsburg man died Saturday, possibly from injuries he received in a 1994 drive- by shooting.

Police are checking into whether murder charges are warranted in the death of Raymond Ramirez, who was brought to the emergency room of Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Walnut Creek on Friday night and died the next day in intensive care.

In 1994, Ramirez was the victim of a drive-by shooting as he stood outside a house party in Pittsburg. A man firing a pistol from a dark blue compact car hit Ramirez in the lower back, said Pittsburg police Lt. William Zbacnik.

Investigators at the time believed that Ramirez was shot in retaliation for an earlier gang-related shooting at a dance hall in Antioch at a time of heightened gang violence in the eastern part of the county.

But witnesses at the scene were uncooperative, and the investigation of the shooting, which was being treated as an assault with a deadly weapon, was suspended.

Ramirez is not known to police as a gang member and he does not have a criminal record that would indicate a connection to gangs, Zbacnik said.

Hospital officials said Ramirez had a history of health problems, but they would not elaborate. The Contra Costa County coroner's office conducted an autopsy yesterday, but coroners were unable to determine a cause of death.

They will wait several weeks for pathology tests results.

"We don't really know at this point whether he died as a result of the gunshot wound he suffered in 1994," Zbacnik said. "We have to determine what that cause of death was and then determine whether it (the case) can be filed as a homicide."

But even if Ramirez did die as result of the shooting, getting a murder charge filed will be tough. Police are no closer today to finding the assailant than they were five years ago.

And under state law a murder charge typically cannot be filed more than three years from the date of an injury believed to have caused a death.

Zbacnik said that despite that law, police could still ask prosecutors to file the case. But attorneys for any potential suspect would have a good chance of getting the case thrown out.

"We're still investigating this as (an assault)," Zbacnik said. "But we could go to the D.A."

Police have not yet discussed the case with Ramirez's family, Zbacnik added.

A final coroner's report on Ramirez's death is expected in about a month.

Zbacnik said investigators also plan to look at his medical records before deciding whether to consider Ramirez's death a homicide

picture from one of the articles