Friend Speaks Out About Suspect In Woodward Trooper Shooting

A routine traffic stop in Woodward ends in gunfire. An OHP trooper shot while trying to pull over a driver for a possible seat belt violation. The driver didn’t stop at first and instead led the trooper on a brief pursuit that ended at the Days Inn in Woodward. That’s when the suspect opened fire.

“I look over and I see the lights, I hear them come up, stop and they’re yelling. few moments later, a hear gunshots,” said Brittne Thomas, the suspect’s friend.

Thomas had a gut feeling those gunshots involved her childhood friend Arturo Ramirez.

“The things that have been going on around here things he’s got himself into, yeah I just had a feeling it was him,” she said.

Ramirez led Trooper Austin Ellis to the hotel’s parking lot early Sunday morning. He shot at Ellis, hitting him. The trooper returned fire but the suspect fled the scene. 

“I know a lot of it had to do with his boys, he loves his boys, that had him down and out,” Thomas said.

Thomas said Ramirez struggled with being separated from his kids. OHP’s tactical team and local law enforcement surrounded a house, about a mile north of the Days Inn, where they believed Arturo was holed up, but he got away on foot. Troopers eventually caught up with Ramirez just half a mile west of where it all started.

“He doesn’t have much family just hard because it’s not how he could have it,” Thomas said.

Ramirez was taken into custody and is in jail. Trooper Ellis was flown to OU Medical Center in Oklahoma City. OHP said he was shot in his bulletproof vest and expected to survive.