A double shooting on Feb. 9 at a home on Solano Cay Circle in Ponte Vedra Beach was a murder-suicide between two teen friends, according to a 21-page St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office investigation released Friday on the case.
Along with confirmation that 18-year-old suspect Christian Ramos killed himself after shooting a 17-year-old whose name was not provided under Marsy’s Law, the report indicates that three guns and a number of drugs were found in the bedroom where they died. Both teens also had alcohol and drugs in their systems, according to autopsies.
Frantic 911 calls drew deputies to the home just north of Solana Road about 1:30 a.m., the Sheriff’s Office said. One woman said her son had just shot himself in a bedroom. Then two men called, one saying there were two victims with gunshot wounds to their heads, and another man reporting his son was dead.
The report redacts the identity of everyone in the shooting except Ramos. But it says adult family members and friends were downstairs when they heard a gunshot, followed by two more. They rushed upstairs and forced the bedroom door in, where they found the two teens.
Ramos was dead on the bed with gunshot injuries to his head, the report said. An empty gun holster was tucked in his shorts, with a .9mm Glock handgun nearby and bullet holes in the ceiling and headboard. Two .9mm shell casings were on the bed, with a third on the floor.
The 17-year-old was lying face-down on the floor, dead from a single gunshot to the head, the report said. Investigators found a second handgun in a box under the bed, plus a bottle of pills, while a backpack with marijuana and a measuring scale inside was nearby.
Investigators went to a home in Jacksonville to tell the younger victim’s father about his death. They also interviewed others who had been in the house when the shootings occurred or knew the two teens, the report said.
One witness said he saw guns in Ramos’ bedroom the day before the shooting, the report said. He also told investigators that someone drove up to the home two days before the shooting in a green Range Rover and pointed something out a window before driving across the street. Then Ramos came out of the house, pushed one of the people in the Range Rover and pointed a gun at his head, the report said.
Another friend of both teens said he had known Ramos and the 17-year-old victim and that both had never had any problems between them in the past, the report said. The teen told investigators that Ramos had offered him two stolen handguns at a fast-food restaurant on Hodges Boulevard the night before the shooting, but he said no.
Another witness who was at the home Sunday said Ramos had come downstairs to get snacks before going back to his bedroom and where his friend was, the report said.
The witness thought “Christian was mad about something and believed it may have stemmed from his unidentified girlfriend,” the report said.
One witness said he heard Ramos apologize for something, then the bedroom door slammed a few minutes before everyone heard the gunshots.
One person told investigators that the two teens were addicted to a drug and “struggling with quitting,” the report said. A forensic review of both teens’ cellphones also showed numerous test messages prior to the shooting that “appeared to be detailing” the sale and purchase of drugs, the report said.