Cobb County police are looking for a local man with militia ties wanted in connection to a brutal beating that occurred during the recent racial unrest in Charlottesville, Va.
Alex Michael Ramos, 33, was charged Saturday with malicious wounding by Charlottesville authorities. His last known address is in north Marietta, just outside the city limits.
IN-DEPTH: Marietta man linked to beating of DeAndre Harris in Charlottesville
Cobb police had been aware of Ramos' alleged role in the beating of 20-year-old DeAndre Harris for more than a week, but spokesman Sgt. Dana Pierce told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that they could not arrest him since a warrant had not been issued in Virginia.
Pierce said the county’s criminal intelligence unit had called Charlottesville Police and the Virginia State Police about Ramos but the calls went unreturned. His current whereabouts are unknown.
In a statement released through his attorneys, Harris expressed disappointment that only one of his alleged attackers, 18-year-old Daniel Borden of Cincinnati, had been arrested. Borden, also facing a malicious wounding charge, surrendered to Ohio authorities on Friday.
Law enforcement, according to Harris’ statement, “has failed to identify any suspect not independently identified by journalist Shaun King two weeks prior.
“With information including affiliated organizations, clear photographs, and recordings, it is disappointing that the combined efforts of federal and local agencies have failed to lead to either the identification or arrest of additional suspects,” the statement continued.
Harris’ attorneys say they plan to file a civil rights suit against all responsible parties.
“I am not ... a NAZI racist”
Ramos contacted The AJC on Aug. 17 through a fake Facebook account saying he wanted to meet in person to tell his side of the story.
"I will contact you shortly, and we will organize an interview, I will have Security with me at all times," he said. Ramos deactivated the account shortly thereafter, but not before claiming he was misunderstood.
"For the record at the moment, I am not! Absolutely not, a NAZI racist," he said.
Ramos was identified by internet sleuths within days of the Aug. 12 assault that left Harris with a broken wrist and a deep head wound that required eight staples to close.
In video posted online, Ramos can be seen taking swings at Harris, who was pummeled to the ground by several white supermacists who had participated in the “Unite the Right” rally that culminated in the death of a Charlottesville woman. Heather Heyer, 32, was killed when a car driven by an alleged Nazi sympathizer plowed into a crowd of counterprotesters.
Ramos was among the first suspects identified in the attack on Harris, thanks largely to a rambling, expletive-laden Facebook video he recorded once he returned to Georgia.
“Nobody else was protecting us. Yeah, I’m glad I stomped some a** out there,” he said. “You hurt my people I guess we hurt you back.”
Ramos insisted he was no racist but said he had joined with them to fight the “common f***ing enemy … the radical, f***ing leftists.”
“That is why I went there and marched with those a**holes,” he said. “They might be a**holes. I might not like them. I marched with them for one common f***ing goal.”
In Georgia, Ramos was associated with the Georgia Security Force III%, a metro Atlanta-based, right-wing militia.
“Michael Ramos is basically an idiot,” said Chris Hill, the leader of that group.
Hill said Ramos had severed ties with the milita due to his involvement with a California-based group known as the Fraternal Order of Alt Knights, an alleged “defensive arm” of another extreme right group called the Proud Boys.
Anyone with information about Ramos’ whereabouts is asked to contact the Cobb County Police Department at 770-499-3911 or the Charlottesville Police Department at 434-970-3280.
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