The half-brother of Robert Fuller, the Black man whose body was found hanging from a tree last week in Palmdale, California, died Wednesday in a deputy-involved shooting, according to the Fuller family’s attorney.
“This afternoon I had to notify the sisters of Robert Fuller that their half-brother Terron Jammal Boone was killed by Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies in Kern County,” Jamon Hicks said in a statement.
The shooting occurred during a gunbattle between members of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and a man accused of spousal abuse, the sheriff’s department said.
Related Story: Bodies of Two California Men Found Hanging From Trees – Families Want Answers
Boone was fatally shot in the parking lot of an apartment complex in the Kern County town of Rosamond.
“Detectives from our Major Crimes Bureau were actively searching for a kidnap, spousal abuse, assault with a deadly weapon suspect,” Lt. Robert Westphal told reporters from local news outlets.
“The detectives observed and positively identified a male matching the suspect’s description in a vehicle,” added Deputy James Nagao of the Sheriff’s Information Bureau. “Detectives followed the vehicle and attempted a traffic stop. The suspect opened the front passenger door of the vehicle and engaged the deputies by firing multiple rounds at them with a handgun.”
Boone was shot multiple times and pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said.
“The female driver was also struck by gunfire and transported to a local hospital where she was treated and released. A seven-year-old girl was also in the vehicle and was uninjured,” Nagao added.
Front door surveillance video of the shooting posted on Facebook by the local group, Rosamond Community Watchdog, included audio of multiple rounds being fired and someone yelling “get out of the car!”
It’s unclear why deputies had ventured into Rosamond, which is in Kern County and not L.A. County.
Meanwhile, the body of Robert Fuller [pictured above] was found hanging from a tree near Palmdale City Hall on Wednesday, June 10.
The sheriff’s department said his death appeared to be a suicide. But after public outcry, the department announced that investigators would reopen the case. Fuller’s family said he was not suicidal and called for an independent autopsy.
Fuller, 24, was the second man to die in a hanging incident in California in less than two weeks. On the morning of May 31, Malcolm Harsch, 38, was found hanging from a tree in the San Bernardino County community of Victorville. The case is under investigation.
