A Los Angeles County inmate died after another inmate allegedly attacked him on Friday morning, officials said.
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation identified the victim as 39-year-old Joshua L. Peppers.
Investigators said it was around 7:20 a.m. when the homicide suspect, identified as Terrance B. Shaw, 42, attacked Peppers on the Facility C patio at the state prison in L.A. County (LAC).
Officials said staff immediately responded and used chemical agents and non-lethal weapons to quell the attack.
Details are limited, and officials did not immediately provide further information about the attack – but the department’s release noted that officers recovered an improvised weapon from the scene.
Officers began performing life-saving measures on Peppers and activated 911. Peppers was soon taken to the prison’s triage and treatment area, and then to an outside medical facility.
According to the department’s release, a hospital doctor pronounced Peppers dead at 8:03 a.m.
“Shaw has been placed in restricted housing pending an investigation by the LAC Investigative Services Unit and the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office,” said the department. “The Office of the Inspector General has been notified, and the Los Angeles County Coroner will determine Pepper’s official cause of death.”
Officials said no other injuries were reported.
To facilitate the investigation, the department said officials have limited movement on the patio where the attack happened.
Peppers was received from San Bernardino County on Sep. 26, 2017, to serve nine years for second-degree robbery as a second striker with an enhancement for inflicting great bodily injury, officials said.
The release added that on July 24, 2019, Peppers was sentenced to six years, and four months for second-degree robbery as a second striker with enhancements for the use of a firearm and inflicting great bodily injury.
As for Shaw, the department said he was most recently returned from parole with a new sentence from Monterey County on Nov. 17, 2023, to serve 14 years and four months.
Officials said Shaw was sentenced for assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury as a second striker, conspiracy to commit crime as a second striker, battery with serious injury as a second striker and possession/manufacture of a deadly weapon by a prisoner as a second striker, an in-prison offense.
