SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Officer Tara O’Sullivan, the centerpiece of her family, the best friend to nearly a dozen, the paragon of a hero to hundreds, in the end died alone.

Adel Ramos hunkered in a so-called what Deputy District Attorney Jeff Higher called a “murder hole” inside his North Sacramento home when he shot in the back of her neck. O’Sullivan, 26, and her partner had gone to his North Sacramento home for a domestic violence call when Ramos “turned the neighborhood into a war zone” for eight hours June 19, 2019, Hightower said.

“This is an ambush, an execution, an attempt to kill anybody who tried to help her,” Hightower said.

A jury of seven women and five men listened to Hightower’s closing arguments Tuesday in which he said Ramos, 51, is depraved to commit the most immoral crime imaginable.

The closing arguments mark the end of an approximate two-week trial in which jurors must either sentence Ramos to death or life without parole in prison.

Defense attorneys will continue to present their closing arguments Tuesday afternoon.

Ramos pleaded guilty in August to one count of first-degree murder, seven counts of attempted murder of peace officers, two counts of unlawfully possessing an assault weapon and three counts of intentionally converting a firearm into a weapon.

Capital cases are broken up into two phases: Jurors must consider if the defendant committed the crime and then decide if the death penalty is appropriate. In this instance, Ramos pleaded to the charges before trial began on the charges.

The approximate two-week trial, attended by Sacramento Police Chief Kathy Lester, numerous family members and police officers, drew to an emotional close Wednesday in Sacramento Superior Court. Five women appeared to wipe their tears when Hightower concluded his arguments by playing the body-worn camera footage showing O’Sullivan’s last moments and her labored breathing as she died.

“Are you dead yet, b----?” Ramos said to O’Sullivan after she was shot, according to Hightower.

It wasn’t an accident Ramos shot and killed O’Sullivan, Hightower said. The defendant has a long history of abusing women in his family, he said.

Ramos had surveillance footage looped back to him. Numerous modified weapons were stashed around his home — as if he expected to engage in a firefight with law enforcement, Hightower said.

Court proceedings were scheduled to continue Wednesday afternoon.

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