Murder charge filed against Adel Ramos in death of Sacramento Officer Tara O’Sullivan

Adel Sambrano Ramos was formally charged Friday in Wednesday’s slaying of Sacramento Police Officer Tara O’Sullivan, with Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert filing a murder charge and special circumstances that could lead to a death penalty case.

Ramos, 45, faces four felony counts: murder, attempted murder and two counts of unlawful possession of an assault weapon. He also faces special circumstance charges of intentionally killing an officer performing her duties and lying in wait to kill her.

Gov. Gavin Newsom has declared a moratorium on the death penalty while he is in office, but that does not preclude prosecutors from seeking it at trial, and the special circumstances Schubert filed could lead to that.

Her office has not made a decision yet on such a filing, and additional charges may be filed later.

Authorities say Ramos fired two AR-15 style assault rifles repeatedly throughout Wednesday’s eight-hour siege, and the attempted murder charge stems from the fact that he allegedly opened fire at O’Sullivan’s training officer, Daniel Chipp. The charging document indicates the rifles built with components assembled by someone other than a manufacturer – so-called “ghost guns.”

Ramos is being held without bail in the Sacramento County Main Jail and is scheduled to make his first court appearance Monday in Sacramento Superior Court.

Ramos, a Sacramento carpenter with a lengthy history of domestic violence allegations, is accused of killing O’Sullivan with a rifle in north Sacramento as she was helping a women involved in a domestic dispute remove her belongings from a house.

Police have not said if the woman was in a relationship with Ramos, but they say he opened fire on O’Sullivan with a high-powered rifle about 30 minutes after she arrived at the scene on Redwood Avenue in the Noralto neighborhood, south of El Camino Avenue.

The gunman continued firing and held officers at bay during a siege that ended before 2 a.m. Thursday when he surrendered.

O’Sullivan, 26, died after lying in the backyard of a house where she was shot for 44 minutes because police said they could not rescue her until an armored vehicle arrived that could protect them from the rifle fire.

O’Sullivan was the first Sacramento officer to be killed in the line of duty since 1999.

This story was originally published June 21, 2019 at 3:01 PM.