Nye County Deputy Arrested After Firing Shot During Pahrump Walmart Pursuit

Deputy James Ramos, 47, of the Nye County Sheriff’s Office was arrested in March 2020 on charges of assault with a deadly weapon and discharging a firearm where a person is endangered after he fired a shot during a pursuit of a suspected shoplifter behind the Walmart on South Highway 160 in Pahrump, the sheriff’s office said at the time in a Facebook video. The office’s video stated that “the shot was not within Sheriff’s Office policy.” Ramos was held at the Nye County Detention Center following his arrest.

The sheriff’s office video said officers were called to reports of shoplifting at the Pahrump Walmart just before 3 a.m., and that the suspect led officers on a chase before Ramos fired at him behind the store. The identity of the person who was chased and whether that person was wounded were not disclosed in the video, and the office did not provide a full timeline in the post.

Public dispatch logs from February 2020 reflect law enforcement activity at the Walmart on South Highway 160 around the time of the reported pursuit. However, available county records do not clearly identify the individuals involved or specify whether the entries correspond directly to the shooting incident described in the sheriff’s office video.

Separately, local Pahrump reporting from that period identified a different arrest at the same Walmart involving Ryan Orman of Pahrump, who was taken into custody on charges of possessing controlled substances and paraphernalia after deputies suspected he had shoplifted. Deputies reportedly handcuffed Orman as he attempted to leave because he “previously fled from law enforcement on several occasions.” Orman told officers “there was nothing in the pack and he hadn’t stolen anything.” A search of his waist pack allegedly turned up methamphetamine, a meth pipe, heroin and needles; that report did not indicate if the pack contained any items from the retailer.

The public records and postings available from 2020 do not explicitly connect the dispatch activity, the chase and shooting described in the sheriff’s office video, and the Orman arrest. The name of the person shot at in the pursuit was not released, and county records available to date do not clarify whether the detentions cited were part of the same incident or separate events.

With Ramos charged at the time and the sheriff’s office having said the shot “was not within Sheriff’s Office policy,” the sequence of events at the South Highway 160 Walmart, the identities of those involved and any injuries were not fully detailed in the initial public postings.