Bernie Goetz’s Shooting Victim Found Dead
A man who was shot and wounded by New York subway vigilante Bernhard Goetz was reportedly found dead in a suspected suicide, 27 years to the day since the famous incident.
James Ramseur, now 45, was found in his room in a seedy Bronx motel with two empty bottles of pills by his side, the New York Post reported.
Police suspect Ramseur, who has been in and out of jail in recent years, killed himself, the Daily News reported.
Ramseur and three buddies were riding a downtown No. 2 train when they walked up to the bespectacled Goetz and asked for $5 on December 22, 1984.
The teens said they were only panhandling. Goetz claimed they were trying to rob him, pulled out a gun and opened fire, wounding them.
Frustrated with then-rising crime, some called him a hero. Others said he was racist since all four victims were black.
A jury acquitted Goetz on most charges, although he did serve several months for weapons possession.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30