Man accused of shooting at firefighters, stealing one of their trucks

ROWAN COUNTY, N.C. — A Rowan County man is accused of shooting at firefighters and stealing one of their pickup trucks, deputies said.

It stemmed from a 911 call about an unconscious person around 11:45 a.m. Sunday. Rowan County Emergency Services and the Atwell Fire Department were called for a man who had passed out in his car at the intersection of Shinn Farm Road and Highway 152.

Crews found Miguel Angel Ramirez in his SUV but realized that he was likely impaired and wasn’t suffering from a medical condition.

The woman who called 911 said she had taken the keys out of Ramirez’s car. Then, while EMS crews waited for highway patrol to respond to the situation, Ramirez got back into the SUV and fired at least one shot, the sheriff’s office said.

Channel 9′s Dave Faherty learned one of the firefighters got in the car and fought the suspect over the gun. Both deputies and first responders said that the firefighter got inside after learning the man was going for a gun.

Fortunately, no one was shot. One Rowan County paramedic was hurt while trying to take cover, deputies said. They were treated and then released from the hospital.

Officials say Ramirez then tried to get away. He’s accused of stealing an Atwell Fire Department pickup truck from the scene and colliding with another vehicle at the intersection of Highway 152 and Unity Church Road.

The driver of that second car said he thought the truck was heading to a call with its lights on.

“I thought it was just, you know, the fire department going to a call,” Joe Shuryan said. “Even for the fire department, he was traveling at an unusually high speed, though, coming into that corner.”

Ramirez was ultimately arrested in a nearby yard. The gun, which deputies said was stolen, was found in a soybean field near where Ramirez was arrested.

The driver who was hit was not injured.

The woman who called 911 when she spotted Ramirez slumped in the SUV shared photos of the scene along Shinn Farm Road. She said she walked up to the SUV at one point and took a photo of the driver passed out in the vehicle. That was before she reached inside and took his keys.

“I was afraid that if he did wake up, he would start going and maybe hurt someone and getting down the road,” she said.

She said when the firefighter started wrestling Ramirez for the gun, she left.

“I didn’t want to get shot,” she said. “That was a very very scary moment, so I ran.”

Deputies said first responders also ran away from the gunfire.

“I can only imagine the shock when it goes from ‘I’m trying to help you’ to ‘all of the sudden, I’m being attacked,’” said Rowan County Sheriff Travis Allen.

Ramirez faces half a dozen charges, including two counts of assault on a firefighter and driving while impaired. Both firefighters and witnesses described seeing empty beer cans throughout the SUV.

The sheriff said he was thankful no one was seriously hurt.

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