(Lawrenceville, Ga., 8/19/24) – A self-proclaimed “patriot” was convicted of shooting a man in the back of the head because the victim envied his U.S. citizenship.

A Gwinnett County jury found Jorge Alberto Ramirez, 35, guilty of three counts of felony murder, aggravated assault, aggravated battery, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony for the April 14, 2021, shooting death of 23-year-old Pedro Lopez-Belloso. Ramirez was sentenced to life in prison plus five years.

“This was a cruel and violent way to die,” District Attorney Patsy Austin-Gatson said. “We grieve with Mr. Lopez-Belloso’s family and loved ones. In prosecuting this death, we send the message that no one has the right to determine who deserves to die.”

Ramirez told police he was riding in the back seat of an SUV traveling along Jimmy Carter Boulevard on the evening of the incident when he said he felt nervous because Lopez-Belloso was armed. He claimed that he chambered a round into the AR-15 rifle in the back seat with him because of this “weird feeling” about the others in the vehicle with him. Soon the rifle fired, striking Lopez-Belloso, who was in the front passenger seat, in the back of the head. Ramirez told police investigators that the rifle was sitting at his side when it accidentally fired.

But evidence later showed that he intended to shoot Lopez-Belloso, telling the driver of the SUV, “I don’t give a damn … There ain’t gonna be emotion of jealousy, envy, hatred …” After the shooting, when Ramirez was detained by Gwinnett County Police in the back of a patrol car, he was recorded saying he shot Lopez-Belloso because the “immigrant want(s) to envy, hate, and be jealous on an American citizen of the United States of America.” He later said, “…Our oath is if you try our patriots, our patriots will respond with the almighty great accuracy, and definition of a solution ... It’s simple, bro., I don’t give a damn about no murders, I don’t give a damn about no kidnappings. I don’t give a damn about nothing…”.

Ramirez offered a different story to prosecutors in March 2022, after he was charged by police, saying that he had been asleep in the back of the SUV when the rifle, which was propped up in the back seat next to him, fell over and fired. A Georgia Bureau of Investigations analysis of the assault rifle determined that the weapon could not have accidentally misfired and only could have discharged by a human pulling the trigger.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Anthony Volkodav and Marlene Oldeen with assistance from DA’s Investigator Matt Cleland and Victim Advocate Korrine Haskins. Gwinnett County Police Detective J. Lawson was invaluable to the investigation of the case.