By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news
Centralia Police Chief Bob Berg indicated this morning he’s certain his officer’s actions in fatally shooting a man following a shoplifting incident will be found as justified, after being briefed on findings of the outside investigation.
Berg and Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer met with a representative of the multi-jurisdictional team of law enforcement officers that looked into the June 29 incident late last week and were told of its conclusions, Berg said in a news release.
Paul M. Edmundson, a 43-year-old Centralia man, died from a bullet wound to his chest in the parking lot of Anchor Bank, after, police said, he attempted to pull a gun from his pocket during a struggle with a police dog and Officer Ruben Ramirez. The officer had been called to a report someone stole a burrito from the gas station convenience store next door.
It happened at South Tower Avenue and Cherry Street.
The investigation is complete, and was submitted on Thursday to the prosecutor for formal review, according to Berg.
“I thank the regional team for their work in this investigation and look forward to the review by the Lewis County prosecutor,” Berg stated. “Based on the information presented by the team at the briefing I remain confident that the actions of Officer Ruben Ramirez will be found as a justified response to the threat that officer faced on that Sunday morning.”
Ramirez was placed on paid administrative leave.
Once Meyer is finished with his part, an internal use-of-force review board will convene, according to Berg.
The board will consist of a command level officer from the Centralia Police Department and at least three other command level officers from other law enforcement agencies.
•••
For background, read “Coroner releases name of police shooting victim” from Wednesday July 2, 2014, here
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter