Stolen gun key in 2015 murder case, lawsuit from man’s family against ICE
OAKLAND » The family of a man shot dead two years ago while painting a mural in West Oakland has filed a lawsuit against the government, claiming the gun used in the killing was stolen from a federal officer’s car.
Antonio “Tony” Ramos, 27, of Emeryville, was killed Sept. 29, 2015 while volunteering to paint the anti-violence mural at West and 35th streets.
His parents filed the wrongful death lawsuit in federal court Wednesday, alleging an agent with Immigration and Customs Enforcement left the gun unsecured inside a bag in a car parked in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood.
The gun, according to the family’s attorneys and law enforcement sources, ended up in the hands of Ramos’ alleged killer, Marquise R. Holloway, a West Oakland gang member accused of shooting Ramos after trying to steal his camera.
“It wasn’t in a lock box or secured or even put in the trunk of the car,” the family’s attorney, Alison Cordova, said in a statement. “These are all steps that could have been taken to keep a lethal firearm out of the hands of a knowngang member and prior convicted felon.”
On Thursday, ICE spokesman James Schwab said the federal agency does not comment on ongoing litigation.
The homicide devastated the community and the Attitudinal Healing Connection, the nonprofit organization working on a series of murals underneath Interstate 580. After his death, artists finished the mural depicting children from the West Oakland neighborhood, a creek and brightly-colored Victorian houses along a tree-lined street.
The lawsuit also alleges guns stolen from or lost by law enforcement is a rampant problem. A 2010 report by the U. S. Office of the Inspector General found Department of Homeland Security agencies lost 289 firearms between 2006 and 2008, or a firearm every four days. A 2016 investigation by this newspaper found that over a six-year period, 994 guns from law enforcement agencies in California had either been lost, stolen or could not be accounted for.
Through their attorneys, Burlingame’s Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, the family asked for privacy and did not comment. The firm also represents the family of Kate Steinle, a woman killed in San Francisco in 2015. Her alleged killer, Juan Francisco LopezSanchez, said he found the gun on a San Francisco pier. The case has been used to fuel debates over illegal immigration and sanctuary city policies because Lopez-Sanchez, who is undocumented and had been deported multiple times, was released from custody prior to the shooting rather than being held for immigration authorities.
Holloway, who is charged with Ramos’ killing and armed robberies, is awaiting trial and remains in Santa Rita Jail on no bail.
The civil lawsuit quoted an unnamed witness who said, “Antonio never raised his voice … There was no altercation, there was nothing like that.”