Orlando RamirezThe man accused of killing a Dalton, Ga., bar bouncer will stay in jail at least until Friday morning.
That's when Conasauga Circuit District Attorney Bert Poston said Orlando Ramirez is scheduled for a bond hearing in Whitfield County Superior Court. U.S. Marshals arrested Ramirez in Marietta on Monday night on charges of murder and aggravated assault.
Dalton police say security guards at the Las Delicias Bar at 511 E. Morris St. rejected Ramirez and Juvencio Vega-Garcia around 12:30 a.m. Sunday when they tried to get in because both men are 20 years old. Ramirez then pulled out a gun and shot one of the security guards in the upper thigh. The bullet was redirected after hitting the guard's cellphone, police said.
Ramirez and about 10 other people scattered after the shot. But another security guard -- 28-year-old Bruno Rodriguez, of 2378 Utility Road -- tried to tackle him. Police say Ramirez then shot Rodriguez in the head, killing him.
Ramirez then chased the first security guard he shot, aimed and fired again, this time hitting the 37-year-old man in his neck, police said. But the victim ran away, and doctors later released him after he was treated at Hamilton Medical Center.
Dalton Police Public Relations Specialist Bruce Frazier has asked media outlets not to release the second victim's identity in case Ramirez or others try to attack him again.
After shooting the security guards, Ramirez tried to get inside the bar. But someone inside had locked the doors, so Ramirez walked away.
"He did not appear to be in a hurry," Frazier said.
Right now, police are not sure why Ramirez opened fire.
"Our investigators are looking into it," Frazier said. "We don't necessarily think he was just mad because he could not get in [the bar]."
After Ramirez began shooting the security guards, police say, Garcia ran away. He hopped in a Honda Accord driven by 21-year-old Fernando Resendiz, of 1601 Beverly Drive.
Minutes earlier, police say, Resendiz dropped Garcia and Ramirez off in the front of the building, where a convenience store is located (the bar is in a basement in the back of the building). After dropping the two men off, Frazier said, Resendiz backed into a parking spot. Until Garcia returned, he kept his headlights on.
Then, Resendiz steered the car out of the parking lot, down East Morris Street. When Ramirez returned to the front of the building, he noticed that the car was gone, so he began to walk in the same direction that Resendiz had driven.
Soon after, Frazier said, Resendiz turned back and scooped up Ramirez. Frazier said Tuesday that he could not disclose how he knew the car came back, nor could he say how the police identified Ramirez as the shooter.
On Sunday, police arrested Garcia and Ramirez as accessories to the crime. Officers then arrested Ramirez's girlfriend, 18-year-old Alexa Jiminez, on Monday on charges of making false statements to the police.
Officers later learned that Ramirez was staying in a Marietta house, and members of the U.S. Marshals Service arrested him there. He is being held at the Whitfield County Jail. He, Garcia and Resendiz will not have a bond hearing until Friday.
Before this arrest, Garcia spent 13 months in Ware State Prison in Waycross, Ga., on a gang participation conviction, records show.
Contact staff writer Tyler Jett at 423-757-6476 or tjett@timesfreepress.com.