Investigators release names of Centralia officer, victim in fatal police shooting

By The Chronicle staff
Posted 1/21/25

The Lewis County Coroner’s Office has positively identified the man killed by a Centralia Police Department officer during a response to a domestic dispute on Sunday, Jan. 12, as Alecandro A. …

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Investigators release names of Centralia officer, victim in fatal police shooting

Posted

The Lewis County Coroner’s Office has positively identified the man killed by a Centralia Police Department officer during a response to a domestic dispute on Sunday, Jan. 12, as Alecandro A. Castaneda, 23, of Centralia.

Investigators have identified the officer as Ruben Ramirez.

The coroner’s office announced Monday, Jan. 20, that Castaneda’s cause of death was two penetrating close range gunshot wounds to the chest and thigh. The manner of death is homicide, according to the coroner’s office.

The Washington State Office of Independent Investigations (OII), which is investigating the incident, issued a news release Friday identifying Ramirez as the officer who fatally shot Castaneda.

“Officer Ramirez was hired in September 2001 and previously served as a reserve police officer beginning in 1998. He is assigned to the patrol division as a K9 officer,” OII said Friday in a news release.

Ramirez will retire alongside his K9 partner, Pax, at the end of the month, according to previous Chronicle reporting. The Centralia Police Department confirmed that he has been placed on leave per department policy.

Ramirez was injured in a physical fight with Castaneda that preceded the shooting, according to police. Ramirez was treated for his injuries and released the day of the incident.

Officers were dispatched to the 400 block of North Ash Street for a reported domestic dispute at 10:56 a.m. on Sunday, Jan. 12, according to police.

“The first arriving officer made contact with a male subject,” police stated Jan. 12 in the news release. “During the contact, the male subject and the officer got into a physical fight. The officer discharged their firearm, striking the male subject. The male subject received emergency medical treatment at the scene, where he was pronounced deceased. The officer was injured in the fight. No bystanders were injured.”

In compliance with state law, the Centralia Police Department notified the OII, which is investigating the shooting.

OII is required to complete its investigations within 120 days or explain the reason for the delay to its advisory board, according to OII Director of Communications and Community Relations Hector Castro.

“OII has set up a tip line and is asking anyone who may have information regarding this incident to call 564-250-1706,” OII said in a news release.

All information provided to OII is subject to public disclosure under state law.

The Washington State Legislature created OII in 2021 to conduct independent and unbiased investigations of deadly use of force by law enforcement. It works with an 11-member advisory board that reviews and provides input on agency policies.

“This is our second case since we began actively responding to incidents in the part of the state we refer to as our operations area Region 1,” Castro said in an email to The Chronicle. “The first incident was in Vancouver, and that case remains under investigation.”

Centralia Police Department personnel will not be involved in the independent investigation, the department stated in a news release.

Once the OII investigation is complete, the case will be forwarded to the Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office for review.