Current Events > Brother of man found hanging from tree shot dead by police

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https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-06-17/la-me-rosamond-shooting-sheriff

The half brother of Robert Fuller, a young Black man who was found hanging from a tree in Palmdale last week, was shot dead by Los Angeles County sheriffs deputies during a shootout Wednesday afternoon in Kern County, according to law enforcement sources and an attorney for the family.

The shooting occurred about 4:30 p.m. in a parking lot in Rosamond, a community about 20 miles north of Palmdale. The killing came as activists and community members have been openly critical of how Los Angeles County sheriffs deputies handled the investigation into Fullers death.

Lt. Robert Westphal of the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department said the fatal shooting occurred during a kidnapping and assault investigation that is being handled by the departments major-crimes bureau.

Westphal did not identify the man who was fatally shot. Jamon Hicks, an attorney for the Fuller family, confirmed that the man killed by deputies was Terron Boone.

Court records show that Boone was charged Tuesday with multiple criminal counts including criminal threats, assault, false imprisonment and domestic violence.

On Wednesday afternoon, Westphal said detectives trailed a car that the suspect was riding in and followed it back to an apartment complex in Rosamond. The deputies attempted a traffic stop.

The suspect, later identified as Boone, exited the cars passenger side and opened fire, according to Westphal, who said the suspect fired at least five shots toward the detectives. Deputies returned fire and shot him the chest, killing him, according to Westphal.

The woman driving the car was shot once in the chest and taken to a local hospital, where she was treated and released Wednesday night. A 7-year-old girl was in the cars back seat but was not injured in the gunfire, Westphal said. The childs relationship to the other two people in the car was unclear.

Detectives recovered a semiautomatic handgun at the scene.

None of the detectives nor their vehicles were equipped with cameras, but investigators are trying to recover footage from Ring cameras and other home video systems in the area, Westphal said.

Surveillance video of the incident posted by the Rosamond Community Watchdog, a local news platform, showed multiple vehicles trailing a dark SUV into a housing complex parking lot. Voices repeatedly shouted, Hands up! before gunfire erupted.

Siara Anderson said she was on the balcony of an apartment building adjacent to the parking lot in the 3400 block of 15th Street West when Boone was shot. Anderson said that she heard four or five gunshots and saw a man slumped in the passenger seat of a blue sport utility vehicle, clearly dead.

Law enforcement officers, in plainclothes but wearing bulletproof vests, were at the scene, she said, along with about five unmarked police cars.

Hicks, the attorney representing the Fuller family, said relatives and the legal team had no further comment on the incident.

The family respectfully asks that their privacy be respected. Our prayers remain with the Fuller family, Hicks said in a statement.

Fullers death became the focus of national attention, coinciding with huge protests over the police killing of George Floyd.

Fuller was discovered hanging from a tree in a Palmdale park on June 10, and the initial cause of death was listed as suicide. But after protests, sheriffs officials said they would do a full investigation, with assistance from the FBI and state attorney general.

Thousands protested this weekend at the park, with some describing racial incidents in the Antelope Valley and raising concerns over whether Fuller was lynched.

This is really crazy to all of us, Fullers sister Diamond Alexander said. We want to find out the truth of what really happened. Everything that theyve been telling us has not been right.

To be here, staring at this tree, it dont make no sense, Alexander added. My brother was not suicidal. My brother was a survivor.

Fullers family and friends described him as a peacemaker, a street-smart man with shoulder-length dreadlocks and a bright smile who loved music, anime and video games and mostly stayed to himself. Days before he died, he attended a Black Lives Matter protest.

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You'd think cops would be more cautious about their actions these days but nope some fucking double down it to the extreme. Do they no longer think they're civil servants anymore?

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Why were they following him?

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ReturnOfThaJedi posted...

Why were they following him?

Court records show that Boone was charged Tuesday with multiple criminal counts including criminal threats, assault, false imprisonment and domestic violence.

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Veggeta X posted...

You'd think cops would be more cautious about their actions these days but nope some fucking double down it to the extreme. Do they no longer think they're civil servants anymore?

The suspect, later identified as Boone, exited the cars passenger side and opened fire, according to Westphal, who said the suspect fired at least five shots toward the detectives.

read the story next time. they were being shot at.

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Frogles posted...

The suspect, later identified as Boone, exited the cars passenger side and opened fire, according to Westphal, who said the suspect fired at least five shots toward the detectives.

read the story next time. they were being shot at.

The other witness says he was slumped down in the passenger side? Does that square with the police version of events given here?

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So I have to know...will people here say this was unjustified?

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ReturnOfThaJedi posted...

Why were they following him?

the fatal shooting occurred during a kidnapping and assault investigation that is being handled by the departments major-crimes bureau.

The girl in the car probably reported him, and they were trailing him. He shot first, he got deaded.

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Intro2Logic posted...

The other witness says he was slumped down in the passenger side? Does that square with the police version of events given here?

Maybe. Its not a very accurate description, and assuming the door was still open when he got shot it seems possible. Wed need a better definition of slumped. I mean, its a mess. Even you changed slumped in to slumped down in. We wont know anything unless we get footage.

Frogles posted...

The suspect, later identified as Boone, exited the cars passenger side and opened fire, according to Westphal, who said the suspect fired at least five shots toward the detectives.

read the story next time. they were being shot at.

my bad

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But my first post still remains true.

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Antifar posted...

Court records show that Boone was charged Tuesday with multiple criminal counts including criminal threats, assault, false imprisonment and domestic violence.

On Wednesday afternoon, Westphal said detectives trailed a car that the suspect was riding in and followed it back to an apartment complex in Rosamond. The deputies attempted a traffic stop.

The suspect, later identified as Boone, exited the cars passenger side and opened fire, according to Westphal, who said the suspect fired at least five shots toward the detectives. Deputies returned fire and shot him the chest, killing him, according to Westphal.

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Are we gonna pretend that a criminal who kidnapped someone should be allowed to shoot the police?

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Intro2Logic posted...

The other witness says he was slumped down in the passenger side? Does that square with the police version of events given here?

it's pretty much a he-said-she-said scenario at this point. Given the police's proclivity to cite open aggression when there was previously none, I'm not giving them any benefit of the doubt. It's fucking incredible that they didn't have any body cameras or a dash cam in the vehicle.

Veggeta X posted...

You'd think cops would be more cautious about their actions these days but nope some fucking double down it to the extreme. Do they no longer think they're civil servants anymore?

They haven't been civil servants for a long time. They aren't serving the public. Their credo should be 'protect and serve the status quo'.

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Siaperaz posted...

Are we gonna pretend that a criminal who kidnapped someone should be allowed to shoot the police?

That's what these people want, you can't reason with them.

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Veggeta X posted...

You'd think cops would be more cautious about their actions these days but nope some fucking double down it to the extreme. Do they no longer think they're civil servants anymore?

They never were.

In regards to the story, I do not take anything the police say at face value, they do not deserve the benefit of the doubt. It's awfully convenient that neither the vehicles nor the officers had cameras. If there is video footage that reflects that version of the story then fine, this seems pretty open and closed to me. If not, i'm going to assume it's another murder by cop.

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Veggeta X posted...

But my first post still remains true.

What is there to be cautious when someone starts shooting at you?

I know you meant in general, but that doesn't apply here.

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