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Vigil Remembers Robbie Ramirez, Advocates Call For Accountability

Tennessee Watson
/
Wyoming Public Radio

On Saturday afternoon a vigil for Robbie Ramirez was held at the Laramie Skatepark. The 39-year-old Laramie resident was shot and killed a week ago by Albany County Sheriff's Deputy Derek Colling following a traffic stop.

Community members gathered with the family and friends of Ramirez to remember his life and his contributions to Laramie. The Laramie Skatepark was a space that Ramirez worked hard to help build. Flowers and candles were placed on a memorial. A photo of Ramirez building a new bowl in the park was framed by an old skateboard deck.

Yanna Ludwig was there to mourn the fatal shooting and to call for action.

"I'm here as a part of ad hoc group," said Ludwig, "who are collecting signatures to have the videotape, dash cam, anything, any recordings of the incident released to the public, as well as Deputy Colling's prior record."

Colling was fired from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department in 2011 for beating a man filming him with a video camera. Colling, who is from Laramie, then returned home and was hired by the Albany County Sheriff's Department.

Ludwig said she'd like to see more community oversight when it comes to law enforcement.

"The people that in some ways have the most direct power over our safety are right now kind of the least accountable to our community and we'd like to see that shift."

The shooting is under investigation by the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation.

Tennessee -- despite what the name might make you think -- was born and raised in the Northeast. She most recently called Vermont home. For the last 15 years she's been making radio -- as a youth radio educator, documentary producer, and now reporter. Her work has aired on Reveal, The Heart, LatinoUSA, Across Women's Lives from PRI, and American RadioWorks. One of her ongoing creative projects is co-producing Wage/Working (a jukebox-based oral history project about workers and income inequality). When she's not reporting, Tennessee likes to go on exploratory running adventures with her mutt Murray.
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