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CENTERFIELD -- A strange case of violence in a small town in central Utah Monday morning left a would-be robber dead and a small community in shock.
Centerfield resident Antonio Ramos, 42, was killed when one of the women he was robbing grabbed his gun and shot him in the head. Surveillance video from the store captured the robbery and Ramos' final moments on tape.
"[There's] a lot of talk about, wondering what went wrong and what happened for sure. Until we are done, fully, with our investigation, there will those questions like there would be in any small town," said Centerfield Police Chief Stewart Jensen.
This is the first robbery Jensen has ever dealt with in his 10 years on the force in Centerfield, which is located south of Gunnison.
Just after midnight, police say Ramos approached an employee as she was taking out the garbage, pointed a gun at her and forced her inside.
Ramos told one employee to tie up the other, and then tried to tie up the second worker himself. A few moments later, video shows the gunman put down his .22-caliber rifle and slip it onto the counter.
The clerk who was already tied up appears to remain calm and, in a brief moment, goes for the gun.
She grabbed the rifle and fired, striking the robber once in the head. When police arrived, Ramos was dead.
"They did a good job defending themselves, under the circumstances. They had no idea what was going to happen to them after they were tied up, so I think they did what they felt they needed to do," said Sanpete County sheriff's Sgt. Greg Peterson.
Jensen says he had never dealt with the suspect before. We searched court records and could not find any history on Ramos either.
The two victims have been interviewed by investigators, and the Sanpete County attorney is expected to find they were justified in defending themselves.
Store officials did not want to talk about what happened, but they opened back up for business Monday morning.
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Story compiled with contributions from Sam Penrod and Sheryl Worsley.
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