Police shoot half brother of black man found hanged in park

The half-brother of a black man found hanged in a California park was killed by Los Angeles Police during a shootout that broke out in Rosamond, north of Los Angeles, according to authorities and a family lawyer.

Officials with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said they were seeking a man who was wanted for kidnapping, spousal assault, and assault with a deadly weapon.

According to the police, detectives had been tracking a man but when they tried to stop a car he was in, he opened the passenger door and began shooting. Deputies shot and killed him.

A woman who was driving the car during the incident was struck by gunfire and was treated and later released from a hospital, officials said. Authorities also said the woman in the car was not the accuser in the spousal assault case.

A seven-year-old girl was also in the car but was not hurt, sheriff’s officials said.

An attorney representing the family of Robert Fuller, a 24-year-old man who was found hanging from a tree in Palmdale last week, identified the man as Terron Jammal Boone.

Boone had recently been charged with assault with a deadly weapon, false imprisonment, domestic violence and criminal threats in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

“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,” attorney Jamon Hicks said in a statement.

Officials say the death of Fuller in a park near Palmdale City Hall, which is about 20 miles (32 kilometres) from Rosamond, appeared to be a suicide but family members have disputed that and the death has prompted an outcry.

An autopsy on Friday concluded that Fuller appeared to have died by suicide, the county medical examiner-coroner’s office said. Family and community members have called for an independent investigation and autopsy.

The city of Palmdale issued a statement supporting an independent inquiry.

Local authorities have said there is no evidence of foul play in the death of Fuller but that sheriffs will continue to investigate.

Authorities are also investigating the death of Malcolm Harsch, a 38-year-old homeless black man who was found hanging from a tree on 31 May in Victorville, a city east of Palmdale.

The two men were found hanging from trees in California within two weeks of each other and 50 miles apart in a region known for active neo-Nazi groups, according to reports. There have been mounting accusations the two black men died as a result of lynchings.

“My brother was a survivor,” Diamond Alexander, Fuller’s sister, told The Los Angeles Times. “We want to find out the truth of what really happened. Everything that they’ve been telling us has not been right.”

More than 1,000 people turned out for a protest and memorial on Saturday around the tree where Fuller’s body was found.

Additional reporting by The Associated Press.