© Photograph: Apu Gomes/AFP/Getty ImagesA protest in front of Palmdale sheriff’s station to demand an investigation into the death of Robert Fuller, whose body was found last week.
Deputies shot and killed a man in Rosamond, just north of the Los Angeles county border, during a shootout on Wednesday afternoon, Sheriff's department officials said.
The man was identified as Terron Boone by an attorney representing the family of Robert Fuller, the 24-year-old man who was found hanging from a tree in Palmdale last week and whose death is under investigation.
Boone was Fuller's half-brother.
Detectives with the sheriff's major crimes unit were tracking a man who was wanted for kidnapping, spousal assault and assault with a deadly weapon, the sheriff's department said. When investigators tried to stop his car, they said, the man opened the door and began shooting.
Deputies shot and killed the man. A woman in the car was wounded in the chest and was taken to a hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening. A seven-year-old girl in the car was not hurt, sheriff's officials said.
The woman in the car was not the accuser in the spousal assault case, authorities said.
"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," attorney Jamon Hicks said in a statement. "The family respectfully asks that their privacy be respected."
Court records show Boone had been charged Tuesday in Los Angeles county superior court with assault with a deadly weapon, false imprisonment, domestic violence and criminal threats.
Rosamond is about 20 miles from Palmdale, where Robert Fuller's body was found hanging last week from a tree near city hall.
The Los Angeles county medical examiner labeled Fuller's preliminary cause of death as suicide pending a full autopsy. But the office deferred that decision after community members demanded a full investigation in a contentious news briefing late last week.
Over the weekend, hundreds took to the streets in protest, calling attention to the case.
Authorities have vowed a deep investigation, and the FBI and the California attorney general's office have said they will monitor the inquiry. But still suspicions simmer within the community, especially toward the Los Angeles county sheriff's department that was charged with the investigation and dismissed the death as a suicide at first.
"People are concerned, people are scared, and people are wondering: what's going on here?" Hicks said in an interview earlier this week, before Boone was killed. "Given the history of race conflicts and tension in this area, people are wondering why was this such a quick jump to suicide? Is there something more where police failed to do a thorough investigation?"
Meanwhile, the family members of a 38-year-old man who died on 31 May in Victorville, California, are also raising questions about officials' account of their relative's death.
Malcolm Harsch's body was discovered 50 miles from Palmdale, hanging from a tree in front of the Victorville public library in San Bernardino county.
The San Bernardino sheriff's department is also "working in cooperation" with the attorney general's office, according to the department.
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