Family of man fatally shot by Lake Worth officer urges wanted suspects to come forward

After the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Estevan Ramirez by a Lake Worth police officer in Fort Worth on Sept. 3, Ramirez’s family wants the remaining suspects involved in a car chase to come forward.

In a statement read by Lake Worth Police Chief J.T. Manoushagian at a news conference Thursday, the family said one of the suspects who was in the car with Ramirez visited them in their house the morning of the shooting for about three hours and never told them anything about what happened to Ramirez.

Lake Worth officers tried to stop a car going 88 mph in a 65 mph zone on Interstate 820 around 2 a.m. on Sept. 3, according to police. Officers pursued the vehicle into Fort Worth, which ended in a foot chase on Horne Street, near Interstate 30 and Camp Bowie Boulevard.

After the vehicle was disabled from hitting a curb on Horne Street, four young men got out and ran in separate directions. Manoushagian said Thursday that there were four people in the car as opposed to three, which was the number originally reported by the department.

Ramirez, who was a passenger in the car, had a gun and pointed it at one of the officers, police said.

An officer shot Ramirez and he was pronounced dead at John Peter Smith Hospital. Only one officer of the two present shot his gun, and he fired six times, Manoushagian said Thursday.

According to information gathered from the investigation, conducted by the Fort Worth and Grand Prairie police departments, the car driven by the suspects was stolen. Manoushagian said the car was not reported stolen at the time of the shooting.

The Star-Telegram previously reported that during the chase, Lake Worth officers were told the vehicle had been involved in similar incidents with White Settlement police and that the occupants should be considered armed and dangerous.

Investigators have discovered the firearm Ramirez pointed at officers has been linked to a previous aggravated assault in Lancaster, Texas, police said.

“That doesn’t mean that the suspect necessarily is tied to that shooting, but it does indicate the weapon was there and used,” Manoushagian said.

The remaining three suspects have been identified by Fort Worth police, but no arrests have been made as of Thursday and their names have not been released.

The investigation of the shooting is expected to be complete in early December, the police chief said. The officer who shot Ramirez will remain on administrative leave or office duty until that time. It is estimated that the findings will be presented to a Tarrant County grand jury in early 2022, but a definitive date is not known at this time, the chief said.