Authorities to further investigate hanging in Calif.

Los Angeles County officials acknowledged Monday that community pressure and voices nationwide against racial inequality prompted them to take another look at the circumstances surrounding the death of Robert Fuller, a Black man found hanging from a tree in Palmdale, California.

The authorities initially indicated the death of Fuller, 24, appeared to be a suicide. Fuller’s family challenged that contention, and hundreds of protesters turned out Saturday for a march starting at the park where his body was discovered June 10. As of Monday afternoon, more than 260,000 people had signed an online petition demanding a full investigation.

Less than two weeks earlier, on the morning of May 31, the body of a 38year- old Black man identified as Malcolm Harsch was found hanging from a tree near a homeless encampment in Victorville, California, about 50 miles east of Palmdale.

At a news conference Monday, LA County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said California Attorney General Xavier Becerra and the civil rights division of the FBI would monitor the Fuller investigation to make sure “that we leave no rock unturned.”

“My email, my phone’s constantly ringing about concerns about this. It means a lot to a lot of people, obviously because of the social unrest and concerns about the actions of police in light of the tragic murder of George Floyd,” Villanueva said, referring to the Black man killed in Minneapolis on May 25 in law enforcement custody. “And it touches everyone’s heart because Robert Fuller was a young man in the prime of his life, and his death is obviously painful for many people.’’

Millions of Americans have been denouncing police brutality and racial bias in nationwide protests.