Video of US police officer breaking down after shooting dead unarmed suspect

THIS is the moment a distraught police officer broke down in tears after he shot an unarmed suspect three times.

A VIDEO has emerged of a distraught US police officer breaking down moments after he shot an unarmed suspect three times.

Montana police officer Grant Morrison killed Richard Ramirez, 38, in April last year after he thought he saw Ramirez reach for a gun.

Ramirez was high on methamphetamine at the time and was riding in the back seat of a car.

In video evidence shown during a two-day inquest, the officer asks Ramirez to raise his hands six times before he opens fire.

“I knew in that moment, which later was determined to be untrue, but I knew in that moment he was reaching for a gun,” Morrison said in his coroner’s court testimony.

“I couldn’t take that risk ... I wanted to see my son grow up.”

Last week video emerged showing Morrison immediately after the shooting being comforted by his fellow officers. A dashcam on an officer’s car shows Morrison walking towards the vehicle before appearing to collapsing just off the screen.

Morrison, a police officer of five years, can be heard saying in a shaky voice: “I thought he was going to pull a gun,”. He reappears a short while later placing his head into his hands and pounding the bonnet of the car.

Eventually he pulls himself together and leaves the scene.

Ramirez had two outstanding warrants at the time of the shooting and Billings police Chief Rich St John said in a press conference at the time of the shooting that police was actively searching for Ramirez at the time. He was a suspect in an armed robbery that took place the night before he was killed, during which a 61-year-old man was shot.

Video did not show Ramirez’s actions at the time but Morrison told a coroner’s jury at Yellowstone County Courthouse that the man dropped his left hand to his side, which was out of his view, and “started to jiggle it up and down”.

Two bags containing a small amount of methamphetamine and a syringe were later found near where Ramirez had been sitting.

The coroner’s jury ruled last week that his death was a noncriminal, justifiable homicide. Morrison, who was also cleared of all wrongdoing in another shooting in 2013, was found to be justified in his actions.

Yellowstone County Attorney Scott Twito said he did not expect to file any charges against the officer given the jury’s decision.

According to the Billings Gazette, Morrison is currently assigned as a prescription drug diversion task force officer, working with the Drug Enforcement Administration.

“Where he’s at right now is a good place, he can do the things that he’s very good at. He’s aggressive, he’s a good investigator and he does good work,” St John said. “But there is nothing that precludes him from coming back to patrol.”