A man who died in an officer-involved shooting was the half-brother of a black man whose death has been called into question after he was found hanging in a tree in California.
Officers had been investigating Terron Jammal Boone, the half-brother of Robert Fuller, for allegedly kidnapping a woman and holding her hostage for several days. Boone was wanted under the suspicion of kidnapping, spousal assault, and assault with a deadly weapon.
According to police, officers attempted to pull over Boone’s vehicle on Wednesday when he popped out of the vehicle and started shooting at the officers. The officers returned fire, killing Boone.
A woman who was a passenger in the vehicle was also shot, but she is expected to survive. A 7-year-old child who was also in the car was not injured. The woman who was shot was not the woman who accused Boone of spousal assault, and it is not clear how the child was associated.
“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,” said an attorney for Fuller’s family in a statement. “At this time, until we receive all of the information, the family and their legal team doesn’t have any further comment on this incident. The family respectfully asks that their privacy be respected.”
Fuller, 24, was found hanging in a tree by police officers in Palmdale, California, on June 10. The officers believed that Fuller died by suicide, but his family was adamant that he was not suicidal and demanded a full investigation into his death. The Los Angeles County coroner has backtracked on the suicide ruling and said the county needed to “look a little more deeply and carefully, just considering all the circumstances at play.”
Fuller is one of a few black men whose hanging deaths in California are under investigation. Protesters believe the deaths may have been racist lynchings.
