By F. Scott Faulkner
Santa Barbara County, CA
It often takes the long arm of the law a bit of time to snare a criminal perpetrator. In the case of
Santa Maria resident Alex Brandon Lopez-Ramirez, 21, it took the cops more than a month to
catch up to him.
The case began on September 18, when uniformed patrol officers responded to a shooting
in an alley behind a downtown Santa Maria business. Upon arrival, they found an adult male
victim suffering from a gunshot wound. The victim was airlifted to a Los Angeles medical
facility as the hunt for his assailant began.
On October 24, at approximately 8 a.m., detectives, with support from the Santa Maria Police
Department’s Traffic Bureau and Community Services Unit, executed a warrant at the residence
of Lopez-Ramirez, “a documented member of a local criminal street gang.”
According to the SMPD Watch Commander, during the search of Lopez-Ramirez’s residence,
officers discovered “three firearms, including two handguns and an assault rifle.” One of the
handguns was confirmed stolen, while the others were unregistered and lacked serial numbers.
Ammunition and gang paraphernalia were also recovered at the scene.
Lopez-Ramirez was booked into the Santa Barbara County Jail on multiple felony charges,
including assault with a deadly weapon (firearm), possession of an illegal assault weapon,
possession of stolen property, and being a criminal street gang member in possession of a loaded
firearm.
He remains in custody with bail set at $250,000.
