Tucson Officer Who Shot Man In Back Officially Fired: Police

TUCSON, AZ — The police officer who fatally shot a man in the back at Lowe's on Valencia Road in Tucson on Nov. 29 was officially fired Tuesday, according to Tucson Police.

Then-Tucson Police Chief Chris Magnus announced the day after the shooting that the department had started the termination process for Officer Ryan Remington.

But Remington was not officially fired until Tuesday, following an internal investigation, according to a news release from current Chief Chad Kasmar.

Remington has 10 days to appeal the decision to the city's Civil Service Commission.

Remington shot at Richard Lee Richards, 61, nine times just outside of Lowe's after Remington had followed Richards from Walmart where Richards was accused of stealing a tool box. Richards was hit in the side and in the back, according to police and video of the shooting released by Tucson Police. The video shows that Richards was in a motorized scooter, with his back to Remington when Richards was shot.

Police say that Richards had a knife and told Remington and a Walmart employee while they were in the Walmart parking lot that they would have to kill him to get him to put it down.

Mike Storie, the lawyer representing Remington on behalf of the Tucson Police Officer's Association, said that the video of the shooting and the events that led up to it released by Tucson Police did not show the entire picture of what happened on Nov. 29.
An important part of the video, in Storie's eyes, was edited out of the footage released to the public. That portion of the video shows Remington following Richards through the Walmart parking lot and across the street to Lowe's while trying to deescalate the situation peacefully by ordering Remington to give up the knife, Storie said.

The Pima County Attorney's office has convened a critical incident review group that is set to review the evidence in the shooting before the office decides whether to present a case against Remington to a grand jury for possible indictment.

Magnus left the Tucson Police Department in December to head U.S. Customs and Border Protection.