Johnny Ray Anderson, 42

Johnny Ray Anderson, a 42-year-old Latino, was shot and killed by a sheriff’s deputy on Sunday, July 5, in the 12200 block of 216th Street in Hawaiian Gardens, according to the Los Angeles County coroner’s office. 

The incident began when Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies responded to a call about a prowler around 9:40 p.m., according to a department news release. The caller reported that a man was knocking on the door, trying to get into their house, the release said.

When deputies arrived, they began searching the premises. They found Anderson in the backyard, according to the release, and the shooting occurred. 

Anderson was shot once in the upper body, according to the release. He was pronounced dead at 9:42 p.m., according to coroner’s records. 

Investigators did not find a weapon. 

Anderson’s wife, Kathleen Anderson, told The Times that her husband had been trying to run away from deputies when he was shot.

She said she and her husband were homeless, and had been squatting in one of the two abandoned houses on the property at 215th Street and Belshire Avenue. Her husband had been working outside on a bicycle when he saw the patrol cars drive up, she said. 

She said her husband, who grew up in Hawaiian Gardens, was listed on a gang injunction and didn’t want to be arrested. 

“We were scared,” she said. “We knew we had trespassed.”

Anderson said her husband moved quickly to escape, climbing over a wall into a neighbor’s yard. She said she pleaded with her husband not to run away and gave herself up to the deputies, raising her arms and telling them she wasn’t armed. 

She said she sat in a patrol car for hours, asking whether they had found her husband, but wasn’t informed that he had been killed until 5 a.m. 

“He had plenty of life left in him, and they took it from him,” she said. 

— Ruben Vives and Jeanette Marantos