Over the weekend, a hit-and-run left a man dead in the Lompoc Home Depot parking lot early Saturday evening.
According to Lompoc police, at around 6 p.m. Saturday evening, officers arrived at the scene off Ocean Avenue following multiple 911 calls of a man struck by a vehicle.
“I was coming from Buellton, Los Olivos and I just saw the cops," recalled Rene Grant, a regular Home Depot customer. "The lights were shining towards the body."
He says he was on his way home from work Saturday when he was caught off guard by the police presence in the parking lot.
“Right in the middle, like right there," Grant added. "All of this perimeter here had yellow lines."
Officers say first responders tried performing life-saving measures on the victim, but he died at the scene. They add they are still in the early stages of the investigation.
“We try to track vehicles in the area, look for witnesses,” explained Sgt. Scott Morgan of the Lompoc Police Department. “Our detectives and motor officers will go out and do their best to hopefully find the person responsible for this.”
Monday afternoon, police identified the victim as 42-year-old Lompoc man Antonio Ramos.
And while Morgan says he believes this was an isolated incident, Rene Grant admits he was shaken up by what happened.
“I mean, it was a loss of life. The loss of life, whether it be a dog, an animal, a person, will always be circumstantially bad,” Grant said.
Police say they are still investigating what led up to the fatal collision, adding that information on a possible suspect vehicle is not yet available. Employees at the Lompoc Home Depot declined to comment on the situation.
Sergeant Morgan encourages anyone with information to report it to police.
