After a 24-year-old black man was hanging from a tree in Palmdale and was initially described as a suicide, authorities are looking into the case.
Robert L. Fuller's body was discovered by a passerby who saw him hanging from a tree at Poncitlán Square on June 10, in between Palmdale City Hall and a Los Angeles County Fire Department station.
Over the weekend community members demanded an independent autopsy and to see surveillance camera footage. On Saturday there was a massive protest.
The LA County Sheriff's Department gave an update Monday on the developments surrounding the case.
"The two paramedics made an assessment and said the patient was deceased," he said adding the incident was turned over to the LA County Sheriff's Department.
Capt. Kent Wegener, with the Sheriff's Department, gave a status of the investigation and said initially there will be forensics done on the rope that was involved. He said they will also dissect the knot structure of the rope. He said they are trying to capture surveillance footage from around the scene and researching Fuller's medical history.
Dr. Jonathan Lucas, the LA County Medical Examiner-Coroner, said a complete autopsy was performed on June 12 and still waiting on toxicology results.
Lucas said "the initial reports appeared to be consistent with a suicide but we felt it prudent to roll that back and continue to look deeper, which is why currently officially the case is still deferred and under investigation."
Lucas said "To the point about what would have led us to believe that the death might have been a suicide at the beginning was more the lack of any evidence that there was any foul play at the time. He was hanging and there was no other information to suggest that there was foul play at the time. Further investigation is ongoing but that's why we were thinking in that direction early on."
"We don't have much to release at this time other than we are going to continue to evaluate the evidence as it comes in, independently make an assessment as to the cause and manner of death but we will not do that until we have all the history and toxicology, and evidence analysis that is pending," Lucas said.
On Saturday, according to ABC News via the Associated Press, "Sheriff's Capt. Ron Shaffer said homicide detectives were investigating the circumstances leading to Fuller's death to determine if foul play was involved. He urged members of the public to contact detectives if they have relevant information, particularly about where Fuller had been and who he had been with in recent weeks."
Fuller is the second black man found hanging from a tree in Southern California. Malcolm Harsch was found hanging from a tree near the Victorville City Library on May 31.
A dozen people or so gathered for a news conference at Palmdale City Hall on Friday afternoon.
Palmdale Mayor Steve Hofbauer acknowledged that "we should have stated it better" that the finding is "preliminary," and adding, "but we were going off of what the coroner was telling the sheriff."
[If you or a loved one needs help, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. Los Angeles County maintains a 24-hour bilingual hotline at 800-854-7771>
According to LAist, Hofbauer also said the only cameras in Poncitlan Square are low-resolution ones that follow traffic in real-time but don't record.
The “initial impression” from the sheriff’s homicide investigators and Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner examiner was suicide, however, a final determination has not been made.
Anyone with information can reach the Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500.