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Well, the jury decided he wasn’t armed or they would have found the agents not guilty. Even R&C backed off the gun theory and retreated to the “black shiny object” story hoping, IMO, that the jury might believe OVD had a cellphone or something they mistook for a gun. When asked at trial if he believed OVD had a gun at the scene, Ramos said yes. When asked then if he now thought he had a gun he said “I don’t know”.

What changed between the incident and the trial? If Ramos thought he had a gun that afternoon, what had he seen or heard that now caused him to question that? The answer is nothing. Other than the OVD testimony there was nothing else brought up to either bolster or deflate that belief.

How easy would it have been for Ramos to simply say “Yes, to this day I believe he had a gun”. The obvious answer is they didn’t think the jury would buy it...but they might buy a cell phone theory. Plus, he had to cover not only for his own earlier reports to that effect but also for Compeons testimony that he saw OVD with a gun.

Thinking jury members were never going to buy that Ramos ran out into the exposed vega, not once yelling “SHOTS!” or “MAN DOWN!” or anything you would expect to warn the other agents of danger or that they needed help or that Compeon might have been injured, then while standing upright and fully exposed in the very dangerous vega, shoot once, continue standing and watching for OVD (still fully exposed), then slowly walking back to the ditch with Compeon (both still fully exposed), then climbing and standing on the elevated levee road (that would make them even more exposed)...and also buy that Ramos thought OVD was armed and firing at the agents and that they were in mortal danger.

As for the Mexican reference, I can cite dozens of comments from R&C supporters that echo that sentiment exactly and hundreds that imply such.