Crime & Safety
Widow Sues County Over Husband's Shooting Death by Sheriff's Deputy in Hawaiian Gardens
The suit alleges the husband was unarmed when he was shot and his killing was unprovoked.
LOS ANGELES, CA -- The widow of a man shot to death by a sheriff's deputy in the side yard of a Hawaiian Gardens home last year is suing Los Angeles County, alleging that her late husband was unarmed and that his killing was unprovoked.
Kathleen Anderson's lawsuit also names as a defendant Deputy Karlos Millan. She's seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages stemming from the July 5, 2015, killing of 43-year-old Johnny Anderson.
"Johnny Anderson was a dynamic and loving husband," the complaint filed Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court states. "His death has been a profound an and unimaginable loss to his wife."
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An LASD representative did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the lawsuit, which alleges wrongful death, battery, survivorship and a violation of the state's Civil Code.
Authorities said previously that deputies were summoned to a home on 216th Street after someone called to complain about a possible prowler knocking on a resident's door.
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Johnny Anderson, who was "wearing no shirt or shirt and was unarmed," was standing in the side yard of a residence about 9:40 p.m. when Millan stood atop a planter and looked over a wooden gate that separated him from the other man, the suit states.
"He (Millan) had his gun in his right hand and flashlight in his left hand," according to the complaint.
Seeing Anderson standing about six feet away, Millan fired his gun at the man, who "stood still, posing no threat of harm to anyone," but was shot in the chest, the suit alleges.
However, deputies have said Anderson leapt up from the other side of the gate and tried to grab Millan's gun.
According to previous news accounts of the shooting, the Andersons were a homeless couple who lived in a vacant home after moving from Iowa. Scared because he was illegally occupying the house and because he was listed on a gang injunction, Anderson fled, using a bucket to climb over a wall into the yard of the home where he was shot, his wife told the Los Angeles Times last year.
-- City News Service, photo via Shutterstock
