The half-brother of a young man found hanged from a tree in California last week is dead after a reported gunfight with police.
NBC4 News reports that Terron Jammal Boone was killed on Wednesday after exchanging gunfire with Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies on Wednesday in Rosamond, California. Boone is believed to be the half-brother of Robert Fuller, a 24-year-old man found dead on Palmdale last week in what authorities said appeared to be a hanging suicide. Fuller’s death remains under investigation.
Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department sources told CBS Los Angeles that Major Crimes Unit detectives had been pursuing Boone after he was named in a complaint accusing him of kidnapping, spousal assault, assault with a deadly weapon, and criminal threats. According to the report, deputies attempted to apprehend Boone in a traffic stop, but Boone allegedly got out of the vehicle and shot at deputies. The deputies then returned fire, killing Boone and hitting an adult female passenger in the chest. A 7-year-old girl was also in the car, but was unhurt.
The female passenger who was shot was not the woman who had made the assault and kidnapping allegations, CBS Los Angeles reports. She was treated for non-life-threatening injuries.
NBC4 News obtained a criminal complaint from the Los Angeles Superior Court showing that an unidentified female has called police to report that Boone had allegedly held her against her will in an apartment in an unknown location, reportedly demanding information about Fuller’s death in Palmdale last week. The woman reportedly escaped and called 911.
A family spokesperson confirmed that Boone was the man killed in the police-involved shooting, though the Los Angeles Sheriff’s department has not yet confirmed the identity of the man killed, according to CBS Los Angeles.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, Fuller, 24, was found dead with a rope around his neck in the early hours of June 10. Lieutenant Brandon Dean of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Homicide Bureau initially said that it appeared Fuller hanged himself, but his family has demanded a complete investigation. The sheriff’s department and the Los Angeles County Coroner have agreed to further investigate Fuller’s death, while Fuller’s family has said they will arrange for an independent autopsy, according to NBC4 News.
“To rush to the conclusion that this was a suicide and not a homicide is extremely disturbing. Especially given the manner by which Mr. Fuller was found — hanging from a tree,” Fuller family attorney Jamon Hicks said in a statement obtained by NBC4 News.
“For African-Americans in America, hanging from a tree is a lynching. Why was this cavalierly dismissed as a suicide and not investigated as a murder?”
“It is a tragic, sad death … we are doing everything we can to find out what happened,” Medical Examiner-Coroner Dr. Jonathan Lucas told reporters Monday, while noting authorities have not found evidence of foul play at this time.
Hicks told CBS Los Angeles that Fuller’s family will not be commenting on Boone’s death until they have more information, and asked for privacy on behalf of his clients.
This is a developing story. CrimeOnline will provide further updates when more information is available.
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