A man trespassing on a railway in Redlands was shot and killed after aggressively approaching a deputy armed with rocks on Dec. 16, the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department said.
At approximately 7:30 a.m. Monday, Dec. 16, a deputy assigned to the Sheriff’s Transit Operations Division responded to a report of a trespassing at the rail line between Nevada and California streets.
The deputy found the suspect, Jefte Vargas Ramirez, 37, on the railroad tracks. The deputy told Ramirez, a Redlands resident, to get off of the tracks due to the danger of trains traveling the line, but he refused, a sheriff’s statement said.
“Vargas Ramirez armed himself with rocks in both hands, approached the deputy in an aggressive manner, and a lethal-force encounter occurred,” the statement said.
He was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.
The Sheriff’s Department asks that anyone with information about the case call Detective Tyler Loup at 909-890-4904.