Family of black man found hanging from Palmdale tree demands truth
Thousands of protesters gathered in Palmdale on Saturday to mourn the death of a young black man who was found hanging from a tree near City Hall on Wednesday, an incident that has sparked alarm in the Antelope Valley as investigators try to determine whether the man’s death was a suicide or if foul play was involved.
Authorities initially said they suspected suicide in the death of 24-year-old Robert Fuller, but then backed off that statement and ordered an autopsy.
Many of the people at Saturday’s memorial expressed anger and frustration at Fuller’s death and what they see as a rush by authorities to label it a suicide. On Friday, Lt. Kelly Yagerlener of the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s office said a decision on the cause of Fuller’s death has been deferred pending an investigation. A full autopsy is planned.
“They suspect suicide?” one woman in the crowd said Saturday. “How can they say that? I can say I suspect a lynching.”
“I believe the family deserves the benefit of the doubt. Not the coroner’s office,” said one man, who said he planned to ask the district attorney to investigate the death.
Diamond Alexander, Fuller’s sister, addressed the growing multiethnic crowd in the courtyard behind Palmdale’s City Hall.
“We want to find out the truth on what really happened,” an emotional Alexander said. “Everything they told us is not right. We just want the truth. My brother was not suicidal. He was a survivor. He was street smart.”
Another speaker, Pharoah Mitchell, called on the small green space to be renamed Robert Fuller Memorial Park.
Activist Najee Ali then led the crowd, which by noon had swelled to about 2,000, on a half-mile march down the center of Sierra Highway to the Palmdale Sheriff’s Station, where he first took a knee for a moment of silence before pounding on the glass doors of the building demanding to speak with an officer.
A dozen deputies in riot helmets stood tightly bunched on the other side of the tinted glass as a sheriff’s department helicopter circled overhead. After a half-hour wait, Lt. Derrick Ballentine, the watch commander, came out a side door to address the crowd and take questions.
Fuller’s death is still being investigated by homicide detectives, Ballentine said, though he had no updates. The lieutenant said he, personally, would have no problem with an independent probe, which Ali intends to call for on Monday.
But Ballentine said that was not his call. After he spoke, the marchers returned to City Hall in a peaceful march.
Fuller’s death has generated intense attention, especially after weeks of protests over the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Kim Kardashian West tweeted about the case, urging people to sign a petition demanding a full investigation.
Community members confronted city officials at a news briefing Friday, questioning why they were quick to label Fuller’s death a suicide and asking whether he might have been a homicide victim.
The residents asked whether there were cameras around the park. The city said there were no outdoor cameras, and video recorders on a nearby traffic signal could not have captured what happened.
Some of the community members detailed examples of racism in the high desert city, including Confederate flags, and said officials should not be quick to dismiss it as playing a role in Fuller’s death.
“We have a history with nooses. We don’t like ropes around our necks,” said one man. “It was a message for the protest we had in Palmdale and Lancaster.”