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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Liam Buckler

Police shoot boy, 13, dead after he hijacked car and rammed vehicle into officer

This is the shocking moment a 13-year-old boy was shot dead by police after he hijacked a car and rammed the vehicle into officers.

Teenager Andre 'AJ' Hernandez, from San Antonio, Texas, US, broke into a Toyota Corolla and put the stolen car into reverse when he was shot in the stomach by an officer on June 3, 2022.

In newly released footage the boy was shot by officer Stephen Ramos, who was responding with a fellow officer to reports of a gunfire.

Mr Ramos shot Andre once in the stomach, which turned out to be fatal.

It was later revealed the officer had shot dead a man just months before killing Andre with the victim's family calling Mr Ramos a "trigger-happy hothead".

The officer had not been charged for either of the deaths, according to police.

After an Internal Affairs investigation, Mr Ramos had been placed on administration leave for the first shooting in March 2021 but had returned by September.

Andre's family have hit out at the officer for their son's death who argue the car was not going fast enough for police to justify the shooting.

In addition, they believe cops would have been able to see the car was being driven by teenagers.

The footage shows the officer's partner, only named as "Espinoza", having to pull his leg back into the car before the teen rammed into them.

San Antonio police claim Andre's actions put the officer's life in danger.

Another officer, only identified as "Officer Clare", was called to the scene at around 1.18am as they approach when Mr Ramos warned Espinoza: "Don't let him ram you!"

Espinoza open's the driver's door, puts his leg outside and shouts "Let me see your hands!" and then pulls back his leg as the door slams shut.

The car driven by the teen hits the police car.

Mr Ramos wrote in a report at the time: "At this time, I believed the driver of the vehicle was using his vehicle as a deadly weapon to attempt to kill Officer Espinoza. I fired one shot at the driver of the vehicle to stop the threat to Officer Espinoza."

Just moments later, the officer gets out the car and fires one shot at the victim.

The teen gets out the car and admits "I'm shot, sir" before falling to the ground in agony.

Andrew was rushed to hospital where he was tragically pronounced dead.

Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales' office said in a statement: "It was reasonable for Officer Ramos to believe that Officer Espinoza was standing outside of his vehicle and was therefore being threatened with deadly force by the red Toyota as it accelerated towards him."

The family's lawyer Lee Merritt argued the car was never moving fast enough to cause enough damage to justify the shooting.

Andre had just lost his 16-year-old sister three weeks before the shooting after she was shot dead nearby the family's home.

Mum Lynda said Andre had been struggling to deal with her death when he left the home.

She said: "'He was a 13-year-old little boy grieving the loss of his sister, and they were really close. We're talking about a 13-year-old boy who was killed by police."

A grand jury declined to indict the officer on criminal charges.

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