Brother of Black Man Found Hanging in Tree Killed During Police Shootout

The half-brother of Robert Fuller, the Black man found dead hanging from a tree in Southern California last week, was killed during a police shootout on Wednesday.

Terron Jammal Boone was fatally shot by deputies from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department in Kern County, California after being identified as a suspect wanted for kidnapping, spousal assault and assault with a deadly weapon, per CBSN Los Angeles.

"This afternoon I had to notify the sisters of Robert Fuller that their brother Terron Jammal Boone was killed by Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies in Kern County," the Fuller's family attorney, Jamon Hicks, said in a statement.

“At this time, until we receive all of the information, the family and their legal team does not have any further comment on this incident. The family respectfully asks that their privacy be respected. Our prayers remain with the Fuller family."

According to a police report, the shooting took place around 4:30 p.m. in the city of Rosamond, about 20 miles south of where Fuller was found dead in the city of Palmdale.

"Detectives had observed and positively identified a male matching the suspect's description in a vehicle. 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. At that time, an Officer involved shooting occurred during which the suspect was struck several times in the upper torso."

A woman driving the car was also hit by gunfire, but she was released from a hospital after her wounds were treated. A 7-year-old girl was in the car as well and went unharmed.

The Los Angeles Times reported that there was no video of the incident as deputies and their police vehicles were not equipped with cameras.

The killing comes as Black Lives Matter protests continue across the nation calling for an end to police brutality and racial injustice in the wake of George Floyd's death.

Boone's death also comes as an investigation by the FBI and California Attorney General's Office has been called into Fuller's death, which was originally ruled a suicide.

"Initially, there wasn't any evidence or information that lead us to believe that there was anything other than a suicide," Los Angeles County's chief medical examiner-coroner Jonathan Lucas told the Times.

"But that changed, or, I should say, we felt better that we should look into it a little bit more deeply and carefully, just considering all the circumstances at play."

Federal agencies, including the FBI, are also investigating another death of a Black man, Malcolm Harsch, who was found hanging from a tree in Victorville, California on May 31.