Police: Danbury man, girlfriend tried to cover up accidental shooting

A photo of David Ramos, right, and Jason Hoffman, left, taken in August 2019. A photo of David Ramos, right, and Jason Hoffman, left, taken in August 2019. Photo: Facebook Photo: Facebook Image 1 of / 9 Caption Close Police: Danbury man, girlfriend tried to cover up accidental shooting 1 / 9 Back to Gallery

DANBURY — A Danbury man was high on crack cocaine when he accidentally shot and killed his friend three weeks ago in the basement of the Sterling Woods condo where he lived.

Police say the shooter’s former girlfriend tried to pin the slaying on another man before she flipped and admitted to investigators that he fired the fatal shot — all according to court documents unsealed Thursday morning.

The files in the case of 34-year-old David Ramos, who was charged two weeks ago with first-degree manslaughter in the Sept. 4 killing of 33-year-old Jason Hoffman paint a chaotic picture of the early-morning shooting.

Ramos’ girlfriend, Gabrielle Rega, told police the day after the shooting that she, Hoffman and Ramos were high on crack cocaine in the basement of the Hancock Drive apartment where Ramos lived with his mother. At some point, Ramos pulled out a handgun to look at it or wipe the gun down, Rega told police.

The 27-year-old woman said Ramos did not know the weapon’s safety was off, and when he pulled it out the gun “went off.”

Hoffman was struck in the back. The bullet passed through both lungs and his heart before exiting through the front of his chest, the court documents said.

Hoffman’s family declined to comment for this article.

The gun, a black, .22-caliber Walther P22 with the serial number scratched off, was found in a storm drain about 40 feet to 50 feet from Ramos’ residence, according to the affidavit.

Markings on a .22-caliber shell casing found on Ramos’ nightstand were identical to markings on the top seven live rounds in the magazine of the Walther. The gun was found with the hammer back cocked back and jammed with nine rounds in the magazine

A man who said he bought drugs from both Hoffman and Ramos in the past told police Ramos had shown him a black handgun which Ramos described as a “22.” The man told police the firearm’s serial number had been scratched out, and said the gun looked just like a picture of a Walther P22 detectives showed him off of the internet.

In the hours before the shooting, a neighbor said they heard Rega crying outside the back of the apartment and yell what sounded like “Why the (expletive) did you do that?” and heard Ramos yell to her “Shut the (expletive) up.”

The neighbor said at around 4 a.m. they noticed Rega’s red Hyundai was not in the parking lot. Around 6 a.m. the car pulled back into the lot with Rega, Hoffman, and Ramos inside, the neighbor told police.

Another neighbor told police they had seen both Rega and Hoffman at the condo several times before, and believed Ramos was dealing drugs due to the number of people who came and went.

False statement

Rega initially told police Hoffman was shot in the back from outside the apartment by another man, who she said Hoffman got into a fight with earlier in the night while the three of them were driving in Rega’s car.

Police said Rega and Ramos put forward the man’s name as a possible shooter because they had “an ongoing issue with him,” Rega’s affidavit said.

Police said they interviewed the person Rega and Ramos implicated as a suspect in the shooting and that he is “not considered to have any involvement in the homicide.”

Rega was later charged with making a false statement and interfering with a police officer along with drug charges.

Ramos originally told police the three of them had gone back to Ramos Hancock Drive condo and found his room in a mess. While they were in the bedroom, he heard a loud “pop” and saw Hoffman fell to his knees and then to the ground.

He later told police that he was “in the room” when the gun went off while police were swabbing his hands for gunpowder residue, but could not say how far away he was from the gun when it went off, the affidavit for his arrest said.

After police told Rega that it was “unlikely, if not impossible” that Hoffman could have been shot through the rear sliding door as she claimed, “Rega’s demeanor appeared to change,” the affidavit said.

She told police she was afraid Ramos would kill himself if he was sent to prison. Police asked Rega if Ramos shot Hoffman because he believed Hoffman was having sex with her, but she “adamantly said no,” according to the affidavit, “that there was no reason why it happened, and that Ramos loved Hoffman.”

She told police Ramos must have ditched the weapon while she was tending to Hoffman after she called 911.

When police arrived at the apartment they found Hoffman was “extremely pale, not breathing” and appeared to have been dead for some time, a search warrant said.

The killing is the first homicide in Danbury since 2017.

Detectives at the scene noted it “appeared an attempt was made to clean up the scene or hide certain evidence.”

There was a damp sponge on the bed, the sink in the basement was wet and paper towels were strewn about, the search warrant said.

Investigators also found a small glass pipe with a metal screen on one end near Hoffman’s body, which is commonly used to smoke crack cocaine, the warrant said. Police seized the pipe, two baggies containing suspected crack cocaine, a scale with suspected cocaine, two pieces of heroin packaging and prescription medicine used to treat opioid dependency that was not in its original container.

Police said that sometime between Rega’s 911 call and the arrival of police, she and Ramos “made up a false narrative of what happened” the morning of Sept. 4, and told “police, family and friends that an unknown gunman … shot Hoffman from outside the rear sliding door.”

The day after the shooting Ramos posted to his dead friend’s Facebook page — “I’ll find out who did this to you Jay … I won’t stop till I do,” he said. “God rest your soul and God help who did this to you … RIP.”