The half brother of a Black man found hanging from a tree last week in Southern California has been shot to death by sheriff's deputies.
Terron Boone, whose half brother Robert Fuller was found hanged in Palmdale, was fatally shot Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies during a shootout Wednesday afternoon in Kern County, reported the Los Angeles Times.
An attorney for the Fuller family confirmed that Boone was the man killed by deputies during the shootout about 4:30 p.m. Wednesday in Rosamond, which is about 20 miles north of Palmdale.
Lt. Robert Westphal of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said the killing happened as part of a kidnapping and assault investigation.
Westphal said detectives followed a car the suspect was riding in to an apartment complex, where deputies attempted a traffic stop, but investigators said Boone fired at least five shots at them.
The woman driving the car was shot once in the chest and a 7-year-old girl in the back seat was not injured.
Westphal said the woman was treated and released from an area hospital.
None of the plainclothes deputies or their unmarked vehicles were equipped with cameras, but surveillance video recorded nearby showed voices yelling out "hands up" before gunfire erupted.
Boone's half brother was found hanging from a tree June 10 in a Palmdale park, days after attending a Black Lives Matter demonstration, and family members and their supporters have asked for a new investigation challenging the suicide ruling.
The sheriff's office said it would conduct a full investigation, with help from the FBI and state attorney general.
