Case against former Tucson police officer in deadly shooting dropped

No charges will be pursued against a former Tucson police officer who shot and killed a man fleeing in a mobility scooter during a November 2021 shoplifting call.

The case was dropped Thursday after a third jury did not indict former officer Ryan Remington on a manslaughter charge in the killing of Richard Lee Richards outside a Lowe’s store in Tucson’s south side.

Remington, then a TPD officer, was working off duty at a Walmart on Tucson’s south side, fatally shot Richards, 61, outside a nearby Lowe’s store after being told Richards had just stolen a toolbox and threatened a Walmart employee with a knife, according to prior news reports.

At the time, Richards was on a motorized scooter he rode from Walmart to Lowe’s when Remington and and another officer followed him. They yelled for Richards to stop as he approached the Lowe’s garden section entrance, but Richards ignored them, a video of the confrontation shows.

Remington then fired his gun, striking Richards nine times.

Remington was later fired from the police department.

The Pima County Attorney’s Office said Thursday it respects “the decision of the current grand jury to decline the case” and will close the file and no longer “seek further review of the case.”

This “long arduous process” that spent over three years in various levels of the courts, Conover said Thursday in a video statement that accompanied the news release about the grand jury’s decision “falls in line with a trend of nationwide, high-profile officer involved shootings or excessive force.”

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“These cases take a very long time to analyze and go forth,” Conover said in the video. “It is often, across the nation, that no criminal charges are sought, or grand juries decline to file criminal charges, or juries acquit officers based on conduct when there is an allegation of excessive use of force or an unlawful shooting.

“And Arizona law is no different. There are Arizona statutes that must be analyzed before a decision is made, explained to a grand jury or a jury in a felony trial, that apply only to officers in the line of duty and don’t apply to the rest of us,” Conover said. “We are disappointed with this outcome because we believed it was proper to present this case to the grand jury, but we will respect the decision from here on out.”

A first grand jury indicted Remington on a charge of manslaughter was remanded. In January 2023, a second grand jury declined to indict Remington.

Conover, addressing Richards’ sister, Victoria, said in her video that the grand jury decision does not diminish her loss.

“This decision does not diminish the childhood, siblinghood that you enjoyed . . . and this decision does not diminish your grief,” Conover said.

Mike Storie, Remington’s attorney, told the Star that he and his co-counsel, Natasha Wrae, feel the grand jury’s decision “is a mixture of relief, happiness and anger.”

“It’s a result that we’ve always expected, and although a longtime delay, we’re thrilled that Ryan can move on with his life,” Storie said Thursday. But he said he also was angry about it, “because this whole thing started as a result of irresponsible statements made by public officials, including Mayor (Regina) Romero, Laura Conover and former police chief (Chris) Magnus, who stated that Ryan was a criminal and this case was indefensible.”

Storie also took issue with the statement from Conover’s office calling Richards’ sister a victim. He said the term by the office is “an insult to every true victim or survivor of a true homicide.”

“In order to have a victim, there must be a crime,” Storie said.”Here, there is no crime, thus no victim.”

“Ryan faces the daunting challenge of rebuilding his life, which was destroyed by the public officials who vilified him in the court of public opinion. (Conover’s statement) shows her feelings about police officers . . . she would want a police officer charged with a crime, even though jurors of our peers found that there was no crime and (Remington) was justified.”