Death of Robert Fuller

Robert L. Fuller[1] was a 24-year-old African-American man who was found hanging from a tree in front of the City Hall in Palmdale, California. His death was ruled a suicide by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. City officials announced that they supported an independent investigation into his death.[1] On July 9, 2020, the LA County Sheriff's office held a news conference announcing that the death was correctly determined a suicide and provided more supporting details from the investigation, including evidence that Fuller had purchased the rope used to hang himself on May 14, almost a month prior and tracked through his EBT purchases. No video exists of the purchase or of Fuller entering the park,[2] however there is video evidence of Fuller using the same EBT card for other purchases subsequent to the purchase of the rope.[3]

Death of Robert Fuller
DateJune 10, 2020
Time3:39 am

There is also evidence that Fuller suffered from mental illness and had been hospitalized in Arizona in 2017 and diagnosed with auditory hallucinations after saying he wanted "to put a gun to his head." In February 2019 he admitted himself to a hospital in California saying he was hearing voices telling him to kill himself. He was later hospitalized in November 2019 in Nevada after saying he planned to hurt himself.

History

Fuller's body was spotted by a passerby at 3:39 am on June 10. Emergency personnel responded to the scene and subsequently identified him as dead.[4]

His death was reported initially as an apparent suicide though a decision on the cause of his death is pending. An autopsy is planned.[4] The manner of his death garnered significant attention in the wake of the Killing of George Floyd and subsequent protests.[4]

Members of Fuller's local community spoke to Palmdale city officials at a news briefing on June 12 asking as to why his death was described as a suicide and querying whether it was homicide.[4] Members of the crowd at the press briefing shouted "Hell no!" in response to City Manager J.J. Murphy's request that "we stop talking about lynchings".[4]

Kim Kardashian urged her followers on Twitter to sign a petition demanding an investigation into Fuller's death.[4]

As of June 15, the FBI, U.S. attorney's office in the Central District of California and the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division were monitoring the investigations into Fuller's death and the hanging death of Malcolm Harsch, another African-American man also found hanging from a tree in nearby Victorville just 10 days earlier.[5][6] Harsch's death was later confirmed a suicide.[7]

A fundraiser for Robert Fuller was launched on GoFundMe shortly after the family announced their belief that Fuller had been lynched, earning the family $237,012. It was later discovered that Fuller had a well known history of depression and mental illness had been hospitalized three times since 2017 with suicidal thoughts. Fuller had previously attempted to commit suicide as recently as February 2020.[8] On Wednesday, June 18th, it was confirmed that Fuller's half-brother was killed in what police called a "gunfight" in Kern County.[9] Several questions arose surrounding the killing.[10]

References
  1. Levenson, Michael; Gross, Jenny (June 13, 2020). "A Black Man Was Found Hanging From a Tree, and a Community Demands Answers". The New York Times. Retrieved June 14, 2020.
  2. "Death Of Robert Fuller, Who Was Found Hanging From Tree, Ruled Suicide". NPR.org. Retrieved July 24, 2020.
  3. Shalby, Colleen; Ormseth, Matthew (July 9, 2020). "Death of Robert Fuller, found hanging from a tree in Palmdale, is ruled a suicide". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 11, 2020.
  4. Money, Luke; Hamilton, Matt; Feldman, Kiera (June 13, 2020). "Protesters demand investigation after young Black man is found hanging from tree in Palmdale". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 14, 2020.
  5. "Feds to review cases into hanging deaths of 2 black men". AP NEWS. June 15, 2020. Retrieved June 16, 2020.
  6. Amir Vera and Stella Chan. "The FBI and Department of Justice will investigate the hanging deaths of two black men in California". CNN. Retrieved July 24, 2020.
  7. Gross, Jenny (June 20, 2020). "Family of Black Man Found Hanging Says Death Was by Suicide". The New York Times.
  8. Dugdale, -Emily Elena. "Attorney For Robert Fuller's Family Not Ready To Accept Sheriff's Suicide Ruling". LAist. Retrieved July 24, 2020.
  9. "Sheriff's Deputies Shoot And Kill Half Brother Of Man Found Hanging In California". NPR.org. Retrieved June 19, 2020.
  10. "A search for answers after deputies kill brother of Black man found hanging from tree". Los Angeles Times. June 19, 2020. Retrieved January 28, 2021.
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