COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho — The mother of Tyler Rambo is speaking out after her son was found guilty on three counts of aggravated assault of a peace officer in the 2019 Coeur d'Alene Fourth of July shooting case.
A North Idaho jury found Rambo not guilty on charges of second-degree attempted murder and aggravated assault. He is expected to be sentenced on May 28.
KREM's 2 Amanda Roley spoke with Rambo's mother, Nicole Ellis, over Facebook messenger Friday evening. She offered the following statement:
"It was pretty blatant that he was tased. It was proven his firearm discharged after he was tased, which the cops and the experts all admitted. They said he was tased and that he received the full NMI (Neuro Muscular Incapacitation). It was proven and stated by the police he had his hands up when they tased him. His body reacts to being tased. His gun goes off and they open fire. Involuntarily discharging a firearm when complying makes him guilty? They just need to release the body cams. Yet they won’t. If they did no wrong why don’t they show them? They need to. The only thing Tyler was guilty of was exercising his Second Amendment right. He was acquitted on the attempted murder charge because he was defending himself, the whole purpose of carrying. Why would he defend himself to go have a shoot out with the police? That is the dumbest thing I ever heard. Ask for the footage. Cops are never found at fault. The victim is always blamed. Ask for the footage.
"His body reacts and tenses up. The footage would show the situation. Exactly everything that was going on in that moment. The noise the commotion all of it. Tyler ran for safety. Not from the cops. It would show that too. No one can seem to wrap their mind around the fact that their beloved police officers made a mistake. Instead of people talking about a bunch of things they know nothing about, maybe they should demand the release of the footage. It’s as simple as that."
Rambo pleaded not guilty to both felony charges which arose from the 2019 Fourth of July celebration at Coeur d'Alene's City Park. Police said Rambo, who was 18 years old at the time, waved a gun and fired a round before pointing a gun toward police, leading officers to shoot him 14 times.
Rambo lost both of his legs as a result of the shooting and he has since filed a $9 million lawsuit against the Coeur d'Alene Police Department, the City of Coeur d'Alene and multiple police officers.
The lawsuit alleges that the agencies didn't adequately train, supervise, educate and direct the police officers whose actions led to Rambo's injuries.
At least seven witnesses, including police officers, were questioned during the trial. Opening arguments began on March 1.
Officers said they told Rambo to drop the gun before shooting him, with a detective saying he feared for his life, the lives of other officers and members of the public. Jawaun Anderson, who's fight with Rambo happened in the lead up to the shooting, said during the trial that he saw Rambo pull a gun out. Another witness, Jazmin Smith, also told the jury about the fight between Anderson and Rambo and said that she saw a weapon that ended up "in her face."
Rambo told the jury that he got into a fight with Anderson at the park, and admitted to carrying a revolver and bullets with him for protection. He also said that after he and Anderson started fighting other people joined in and started kicking and beating him.
Rambo also said he pulled his gun out and fired it into the air while he was on the ground to get the group of people to back off, after which he and Anderson fought over the gun. He also said he never intended to shoot anyone.