Detective cleared in shooting

Monday, June 3, 2002 | 8:52 a.m.

A Clark County coroner's inquest jury voted unanimously Friday to clear a Metro Police detective of any wrongdoing in a fatal shooting last month.

The jury deliberated less than 30 minutes before determining that Detective Timothy Schoening was justified in the shooting of Phillip Ramos on May 1 on Oakey Boulevard near Eucalyptus Avenue.

Schoening fired after Ramos rose from the bed of a pickup about 9:30 p.m. and fired a shotgun blast into the roof of the detective's unmarked car. Schoening was not injured.

The driver and passenger in the truck were called to testify Friday, but both Benjymen Cortez and Ruben Vallejo refused.

Schoening, a Repeat Offender Program detective, was in the area looking for another man when he saw a car driving without headlights and heard a broadcast that a robbery had just taken place.

Schoening testified he drove by the car to get the license plate number after it had pulled into the driveway of a nearby house. Minutes later the car pulled up to Schoening, who had returned to Oakey Boulevard.

The driver, later determined to be Ramos, yelled at the undercover detective and sped off before Schoening said he could pull out his badge and let the drive know he was a Metro officer.

Later a pickup pulled up and Ramos rose from the bed with a shotgun in his hand. Schoening fired one shot, dropping Ramos back into the bed of the truck, Schoening testified.

Ramos then rose again and Schoening said he fired several more shots -- a total of eight -- into the side panel of the truck's bed. Ramos was driven to Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.