Body camera footage shows man shot by Raleigh police ignored commands to drop gun

Police body-camera footage released Friday shows a man shot by an officer on Rock Quarry Road in February ignored repeated commands to drop a gun and put his hands above his head, before the officer fired 18 rounds at him.

The footage was released by the city after Raleigh Police Chief Estella Patterson petitioned a judge last month, a state requirement before it can be shared. It was captured on the camera worn by Officer M.L. Berg, who shot the man, identified by police as Ranses Vacramontes Vargas.

Berg and another officer, B.W. Keaton, responded to a 911 call reporting gunshots in the area of Vardaman and Hightower streets, near the 800 block of Rock Quarry Road, on the night of Feb. 10.

In a report released Feb. 16 that detailed the incident, Patterson wrote that, after Berg and Keaton didn’t find any “evidence of shooting activity” in the area, Berg proceeded to a strip-mall parking lot on Rock Quarry Road.

Berg was “conducting an investigative detention of an individual” when the footage begins.

What the body-camera footage shows

Gunshots ring out from the other side of the parking lot, and people in the strip mall start running, the footage shows.

Berg takes cover by a parked car in front of him. He tells people near him to “get down,” reports that shots have been fired on his radio, and moves toward the other end of the parking lot.

A woman getting into another parked car appears to point in Vargas’ direction after Berg asks, “Who’s shooting?”

As Berg continues to walk toward the other end of the parking lot, a man in dark clothing emerges from behind a parked car. The man, identified by police as Vargas, is seen walking away from Berg with his back to the officer.

Berg immediately raises his gun and points it at Vargas, shining a flashlight in his direction. He identifies himself as police and tells Vargas seven times to drop a gun that police said in their report and in notes with the video Vargas appeared to be holding.

Vargas continues to ignore Berg’s commands to drop the gun and put his hands on his head, while walking toward a parked, red pickup. As soon as he reaches the truck, he runs behind it. At the same time, Berg fires several shots at Vargas and the truck.

In her report, Patterson said Berg fired a total of 18 shots.

Berg retreats to take cover behind another nearby parked car, reloads his gun, and again reports that shots have been fired on his radio.

Keaton arrives, and Berg yells out that Vargas is in the red truck, at which point someone inside the truck opens the driver’s side door.

Both Berg and Keaton tell the person to show their hands. Berg then moves closer and tells Keaton that a man seen inside the truck is not Vargas. He tells the man to put his hands on the roof of the truck.

When he moves even closer to the truck, Berg sees Vargas lying down on the ground behind it, and reports on his radio that the “suspect’s down on the ground.”

Berg moves toward Vargas, and a woman who was sitting in the truck approaches him and says, “You shot my boyfriend.”

“I know, I’m sorry,” Berg says.

Man inside the truck is shot

Berg handcuffs Vargas, who is still lying on the ground, the footage shows. Additional police vehicles with their sirens blasting arrive. Berg is heard requesting EMS on his radio.

Berg and another officer then move to the driver’s side of the truck and ask the man inside, who police identified as Alejandro Hernandez-Herrera, where he was shot, and provide him with first aid.

As Berg walks back toward Vargas, the footage briefly shows what appears to be a handgun on the ground next to him. In the video notes, police say they also recovered an additional magazine and rounds of ammunition from Vargas.

Police said before EMS arrived, officers administered first aid to both Vargas and Hernandez-Herrera. The woman who was in the truck was not injured, police said.

Suspect shot two women, police say

Before EMS arrived, police said the officers found two women who were allegedly shot by Vargas.

One was found in the driver’s seat of a gray pickup truck parked in front of the strip mall where the confrontation with Vargas happened. The other was found standing outside in the same area, police said.

Police previously said Vargas shot the first woman while she was sitting in the truck, and the second, with whom he’d had a relationship, as she tried to run away.

What happens next in this case

Vargas was taken into custody and was in the hospital as of Feb. 16, when the police chief’s report was released.

He was charged with two counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill or inflict serious injury.

In the meantime, the shooting is being investigated by the State Bureau of Investigation, which will report its findings to the district attorney’s office, and the Raleigh Police Department.

Berg has been placed on administrative leave pending those investigations, which is standard practice when an officer shoots someone.

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