Exclusive: Family Details Life Of Armored Car Shooting Victim
MIAMI GARDENS (CBS4) - The brother of a Brinks armored truck guard who was gunned down Sunday afternoon says his brother "never harmed a fly" and had taken the job in order to save money to become a teacher.
Twenty-six-year-old Alvaro Lopez Ramos had only worked for Brinks for five months and the Mexican-American victim had just become a U.S. citizen two months ago.
The brother and sister of Ramos spoke exclusively to CBS4's Peter D'Oench Monday, as four people were arrested for Ramos's murder on Sunday night.
"He didn't do anything bad to anyone," said the victim's brother, Ramon. "I never thought anything would happen to my brother. I don't why they did something like this to my brother. They just wanted some money. Why did they kill my brother. He's a good brother. He never harmed a fly. He's a perfect person."
"I just want him back," said the victim's sister Irma. "I would do anything to get him back."
As CBS4 spoke with Alvaro's two siblings, his mother sat in silence in the family's kitchen inside their home. Alvaro's father shed tears as he went through a photo album, looking for pictures of his son.
One photo showed his son in the National Guard in 2008 at Fort Knox, Kentucky.
"He was nice to all of us. He loved us and he never did anything bad," said Irma Lopez Ramos.
Her brother was saving up his money and was going to school to become a teacher.
"He took that job because he could not find anything else, any other job," said Ramon Lopez Ramos. "He took the first job that came to him. That wasn't a job where he wanted to stay forever. He took it to get back on his feet."
The F.B.I. said Ramos was ambushed late Sunday afternoon during a robbery outside of the Calder Casino and Race Course.
The F.B.I. said all of the arrests were made by the South Florida Violent Crimes Task Force. Those taken into custody were: Vladimir Louissant,25; Victoria Barkley,26; Byron Kyler,23 and 26-year-old Reginald Miller. All four suspects live in Miami Gardens. A fifth person, who has not been identified, was arrested by the SFVCTF on Monday.
A law enforcement source told CBS4 that the robbery and shooting was a conspiracy that may have involved an "inside job" at Calder.
Authorities say after Ramos was shot, the suspects took off in a truck that had been stolen from a parking lot of a nearby Walmart. Authorities believed the robbery was planned. A surveillance camera captured the car that was used to drop off the robbers at Walmart before they stole the truck.
Authorities say one of the suspects was also captured on surveillance tape.
Race tracks often have large amounts of cash on hand depending on the day's betting and armored car pickups are part of the routine.
Ramos' truck had entered what is known as the "Old Building" to make a scheduled cash pickup. Another guard remained inside the vehicle.
F.B.I. spokesman Michael Leverock said Ramos was attacked from behind by a man who had been sitting on a bench. The gunman grabbed the money bag and jumped in to the stolen truck. The F.B.I. is not saying how the suspects were arrested.
They face a first appearance in a federal Magistrate's court on Tuesday afternoon.
"I just want the guys to go to jail and that this never happen to anyone else," said Irma Lopez Ramos.
"I hope they put them in jail and they never come out," said the victim's brother. "Because they will do the same thing. People like this don't change. We will always remember him for what he was."
Ramos' brother and sister will follow this case very closely. They say they'll need some financial help burying their brother but say they were told by Brinks that Brinks will assist them with those expenses.
D'Oench called Brink's Worldwide Headquarters in Richmond, Virginia for a comment. But a company spokesman was not available.
