The Antelope Valley Times

Your community. Your issues. Your news.

68-year-old man shot dead by deputies ID’d

by •

Donald Handy

Updated: 2/3/12 at 6:30 p.m. The 68-year-old man shot dead by deputies Wednesday night is Donald Handy, according to his live-in girlfriend of eight years, Phyllis Pearson, 49.

LANCASTER – A 68-year-old White man wielding a sword was shot and killed by deputies Wednesday night in Lancaster, according to Lieutenant Mary Leef of the Sheriff’s Headquarters Bureau.

Leef said the incident occurred around 9 p.m. at the 44000 block of Spearman Avenue. The Sheriff’s Department’s Operation Safe Streets Bureau were at the location assisting Lancaster Station personnel with serving a narcotics search warrant at the man’s home, Leef said.

“Upon entering into the residence, a 68-year-old male white suspect suddenly exited a bedroom armed with a four-foot sword and raised it toward a deputy that was nearby,” Leef said. “A deputy-involved shooting occurred at that time and the suspect was shot multiple times and transported to the local hospital where he was pronounced dead.”

Leef said the sword was recovered from the scene and evidence consistent with the sale of the narcotics was also discovered at the location.

Leef said the 68-year-old man that was shot dead was the subject of the narcotics warrant.

Three other individuals were at the home during the time of the shooting, but were not arrested, said Lt. Leef.

Authorities have not yet released the man’s name. No deputies were injured in the incident.

Whenever a Deputy-Involved Shooting occurs involving Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies, and it results in a fatality, multiple independent investigations immediately begin at the scene.

These include separate investigations by the Office of the Los Angeles District Attorney and the Los Angeles County Coroner, as well as investigations by Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau and Internal Affairs Bureau.

Attorneys with the Los Angeles Office of Independent Review also respond to the scene, and have full access to the facts known to the Sheriff’s Department throughout every phase of these investigations. Once concluded, every aspect of the shooting is reviewed by the Sheriff’s Executive Force Review Committee.

51 comments for "68-year-old man shot dead by deputies ID’d"

  2. About these sherriffs they are to aggressive .I mean who knows if the guys even came out with a sword .a few years back the killed my friend who was 16 when they kicked in his door and he took off running .later they found out they had the wrong address .years before then they shot and killed another Guy I knew because he stole a van he was chased jumped out of the van and ran away but got shot in the head .there is no need for all this violence from them all they are is a legal gang going around punking people and killing .THEY NEED TO BE STOPPED

      • YOU KNOW MY POINT IS, DID THIS 68 YEAR OLD MAN WHO WAS OBVIOUSLY IN POOR HEALTH REALLY HAVE TO DIE. COME ON YOU CAN JUST LOOK AT HIM AND SEE JUST HOW FRAIL HE IS. THE MAN IS OVER 6FT TALL AND IS MAYBE 150 POUNDS. HE HAS SEVERE KYPHOSIS (HUNCH BACK) AND MOVES WITH AS SPEED AS A TURTLE. I REALLY QUESTION THE JUDGEMENT THAT THIS MAN POSED ANY SERIOUS THREAT TO ANYONE, ESPECIALLY LAW ENFORCEMENT. GOD HELP A 5 YEAR OLD WHO RUNS OUT OF A BEDROOM WITH A TOY SWORD OR GUN, THEY SURELY MOVE FASTER THAN THIS OLD MAN. MAYBE SOME THOUGHT SHOULD GO INTO SOME SERIOUS RETRAINING ON RECOGNIZING WHAT A REAL THREAT IS. I BELIEVE THIS IS A CASE OVER KILL. LIKE KILLING A FLY WITH A GRENADE.

        THE MAN SIMPLY DID’NT NEED TO DIE!!!

        IF THIS IS THE BEST FROM LAW ENFORCEMENT, THEN GOD HELP US ALL!!!

  3. Back in March, David Grajeda went to City Hall to complaing about how the Sherrif were harrazing citizen of Lancaster, Mayor Blablermouth told him that is was he who had asked them to be agrasive, and that he actually wanted them to be more agrasive. Why is Big Mouth quiet? I havn’t heard Mayor Blabermouth supporting the Sherrif on this one?????? and what happened to David G? is he still in jail for speaking out against the Mayor and calling him crook?

    • Mayor Blabermouth???? really??? lol. And you’re a “poopy face”!!!!! Yeah buddy! real mature dialogue you got going on here!

  4. How about this fact, the deputies are being attacked more often out here lately. So they are having to use deadly force to protect themselves more often. Look at the incident with the petit female deputy that was almost killed by another crazed Lancaster criminal. Thanks to the good law abiding and law supporting folks up here who came to her aid, she was not killed or seriously injured. Had she been physically capable, she would have been justified in shooting her attacker. And since he was black, had that happened, all of you cop haters would have been coming to his defense and calling her trigger happy and racist. You cop haters need to get a life and crawl back under the rocks in which you reside.

    • Except for the fact that they weren’t being attacked on 2 shootings and that the family says they weren’t attack on the 3rd shooting, you would have a point.
      And yes, I hate DIRTY cops. And if you were paying attention, you would know the good cops are being punished whenever they try to step forward.

      Seems you don’t have any facts after all.

      • Fact is you have no clue about what you are saying, as you were not there at any of the incidents that you are trying to cast doubt on. Your statements are completely out of line with all official accounts that have been reported by reputable sources.

        • Because if there was a problem with procedure (as there appears to be, since instead of serving a narco warrant, a man was killed) the sheriffs would immediately let us know of their mistakes? Naive much?
          Good chance I know more about this then you. As I told you before I know the family. And unless you were one of the sheriffs there, you don’t. I hate bad cops. And if the sheriffs admitted to mistakes made, they wouldn’t be bad cops. Mistakes, whether cutting corners on training, the failure to follow both their procedures and the general public’s civil rights, or just human error can be understood.
          It’s the covering up of and refusal to take responsibility for their mistakes or to change whatever is being done wrong so it doesn’t happen again or lying about their mistakes that gives the public reason to distrust them.
          And if this tragic death was caused because they just don’t believe these people’s lives have value then they really are bad cops. And need to get out of the policing life.

          • Or, the family or friends of Mr. Handy lied to you as criminals commonly do, and the Sheriff’s did exactly as they were trained and eliminated the threat. If your sources are so correct, I’m sure a big fat settlement check will be coming their way. But I doubt it.

    • Fact: Don Handy was a 68 year old man. He was a little hard of hearing, had back problems for which he had to get injections because of pain just to be able to walk around, he had poor vision and just had prostate surgery 1 week prior to being shot to death.

      Fact: witnesses state that the LASD did not anounce their presence or that they had a search warrant. the onle words that came out of their mouths were “GET THE F–K DOWN”.

      Fact: 3 witnesses state that Don Handy was unarmed.

      Fact: Neighbors state that Don Handy was not a violent man.

      Fact: When asked for the search warrant by Don Handy’s girlfriend,LASD told her they did not need one since drugs were involved.

      Fact: The LASD still have not produced the search warrant.

      So it is my opinion that the LASD shot and killed (murdered) a 68 year old man (Senior Citizen) who was in poor health, who did not have the strength to pick up and swing a 4ft Medieval sword at them. Which means the man was unarmed.
      It is also my opinion that the cop or cops that say Don Handy had a sword are being ANYTHING BUT TRUTHFUL and that in fact they gunned down an unarmed man without announcing who they were and that they had a search warrant.

      WHERE IS THE SEARCH WARRANT AND WHY WAS IT NOT GIVEN BEFORE OR AFTER THE SHOOTING TO DEATH OF DON HANDY?

      • ALL these cops are is a bunch of cowards on steroids .I understand do ur job but do it right so we can respect u and not despise u

      • Whats that old saying? Opinions are like aholes and everyone has one? Where do you people come up with your “facts”? They couldnt serve a search warrant without announcing there presence. Were these the same 3 witnesses that were handcuffed and not in the room at the time? Kind of hard for them to see anything and state it as fact when they couldnt see anything.

        • JASON HOW WOULD YOU KNOW IF THEY COULD SEE OR NOT. WERE YOU THERE?
          MAYBE YOU ARE ONE OF THE COPS THAT HAD SOMETHING TO DO WITH KILLING DON HANDY. YOU SOUND LIKE YOU KNOW A LITTLE MORE THAN EVERYONE ELSE. WHY DON’T YOU ENLIGHTEN US AND TELL US WHY THEY HAVE YET TO PRODUCE THE SEARCH WARRANT OR IS IT LEGAL TO JUST BREAK THE DOOR DOWN ANYTIME YOU SUSPECT SOMETHING ILLEGAL IS GOING ON.
          WHEN DID OUR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS DISAPPEAR?
          I MUST HAVE MISSED THAT SESSION OF CONGRESS.

          • Where are you getting your info from? They cant search a house without one, plain and simple. They wouldnt have even been there without one.

          • Wake up, it’s happening, we are loosing our rights and will keep on loosing them, no one is paying attentions. don’t forget we are getting an airplane qith an infrared camera that will soon be recording our every move, why they need it?, who knows? but they are up to something.

          • SO JASON WHAT YOU ARE SAYING IS THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS ILLEGAL SEARCH AND SEISURE. YOU SAY THEY WOULD’NT HAVE BEEN THERE WITHOUT A SEARCH WARRANT. THEN WHERE IS IT? WHY DID’NT THE COPS SERVE THE SEARCH WARRANT? OMG SOMEBODY MUST HAVE FORGOT TO GET ONE. YOU THINK.

          • Youre right, the Sheriffs are obviously going to just kick down a door without a search warrant to search for drugs. Do you really believe that? Especially with how sue happy everyone is? And if by chance there was no warrant dont you think the Feds would be all over this by now?

      • Jr, trust me, I’m sure there is a warrant and I’m sure their “Knock & Notice” announcements were recorded. That’s probably why the rest of the occupants were detained without a problem and are alive and well today. As for the old knife collector, it’s amazing what a little meth in the blood stream will cause some people to do. JUST SAY NO TO DRUGS! Because DRUGS KILL!

        • This right here proves you don’t no diddly squat. Don didn’t do meth. So in other words, you only know what the AV Press tells you. Because they got that wrong. So much for “facts”.

          • So Jacky J., what exactly do you and Don injest when you party together? Also, what did he need the scales for? Let me guess,,,,medical marijuana, right? Try selling this B.S. to someone who is gullible.

          • Was probably a bathroom scale. Funny how the AV Press didn’t have all the pictures the sheriffs usually put out of all the “drug paraphernalia”?

            And only those who pull “facts” out of their a$$ have to start accusing those they are losing an argument to of wrong doing. How original. Like A baby throwing a tantrum and plugging his ears, yelling “I can’t hear you”. The other shuck and jive is playing grammar nazi. Like you did to others on this page. Believe what you want then. You wouldn’t recognize the truth if it slapped you in the face.

          • There was a search warrant, they didnt have the wrong house, any more of your “facts” you want disproven?

          • Actually its been proven but you fail to listen. They couldn’t have searched the house without one. And had they done that don’t you think that it would be all over the news? Oh that’s right its not but keep believing your “facts” and “truths”.

  5. I know the family. Don DID NOT COME AT ANYBODY WITH A SWORD. There are witnesses. These sheriffs did something no one understands. They killed a man who was not on parole and who was not using. Who had never been involved in any violent crime. They think the cops got the wrong house. Notice rex isn’t out mouthing off on this one? No statements about how the deputies have his full support. The word murder is floating around.

    • What does him not being on parole and using have to do with anything? Who thinks they have the wrong house and who is throwing the word murder around? There would be no reason for Parris to be saying anything and showing his support. A deputy shot a man who had a deadly weapon.

  6. Jason, how can you possibly comment on what choice the deputy had? You were not there,if you think the sheriffs dept would never shoot(multiple times) an unarmed person you are truly naive.If you are a resident of the Antelope Valley you have as much to fear from the cops as you do the criminals.

    • A deputy is faced with a man armed with a sword coming at him in a threatening matter. In all honesty what other choice does he have? His weapon is already drawn. Hes not going to have time to holster his weapon and reach for his taser as there is no time. Should he just stand there and get attacked by someone with a 4 foot sword?

      I never said they wouldnt shoot an unarmed person multiple times without a weapon. These guys dont have the benefit of monday morning quarterbacking to know after the fact that a person is armed or not. But that doesnt change the fact this man was armed with a dealy weapon coming at a deputy in a threatening manner.

      No I dont have as much to fear from the cops as I do the criminals. I know not to run from them, reach into my waistband when they have guns pointed at me in a dark alley, come at them in a threatening manner with a deadly weapon etc. From the few instances where Ive dealt with sheriffs Ive listened to their commands, didnt resist and didnt make any threatening gestures or comments. Guess what? Ive never been arrested, never been tased or never been shot. So no I dont really have anything to fear from them because I know the consequences of what those types of actions is.

  7. I can’t wrap my brian around this one, the guys looks old and for what I hear in not very good shape, I was not there but I can’t help to think that I could have taken down this old man with no problem, I saw the video where sherrifs attack the guy from the hospital, now I am starting to believe that hospital guy is lucky to be alive, these sherrif will beat or shoot you first and ask questions later.

  8. This is really sad this was my dad’s friend and he said the man collected swords. You would think that since he was 68 years old they could have just tackled the man and got it out of his hand, but to shoot him several times really they made sure he was dead. I understand they have to react fast but several times, its crazy seems to me lately they have been real trigger happy. I just think steps could have been taken differently. May this man rest in peace he had a long hard life and was trying to get hisself together.

    • If he had just come out of the room with sword and not made any threatening motions with it this would have turend out differently. Im sorry for your dads loss but this deputy didnt shoot for no reason. The deputy had no other choice but to shoot. Put yourself in his shoes for one minute. You have a guy coming out of a room waving a 4 foot sword at you threatening your life. Are you seriously going to try and tackle him? Or are you going to save your life and use the tools you have at your disposal to do so?

      • That is correct but really they had to shoot him that many times come on now he was 68 years old and a sword I could see if he was waiving a gun they couldnt have maybe shot him in the leg to make him fall or maybe the arm to drop the sword. I dont know the whole story and dont really know the man but I just think they didnt have to do it the way they did, but then again maybe thats why Im not a sheriff.

        • Do you know how many times he was shot? You do realize that it was a sharpened sword that was 4 feet long? Its just as deadly as a gun. And people really need to get over the movie fairy tales of people getting shot in the arm or the leg. Sheriffs are trained to shoot center mass for a reason. Its the most effective and simple way to stop a threat. Especially in a situation such as this. They are serving a narcotics search warrant, for all they know the man was high on drugs. Plus you have to remember that some deputies have families to go home to.

          • There was NO warrant. And the hallway is so small that it didn’t matter where the witnesses were, they were right THERE! THERE IS NO ROOM IN THAT HALLWAY TO RAISE A SWORD OR THREATEN ANYONE. Don couldn’t have raised the sword to threaten ANYONE. The ceiling is just to low and the hallway to small. Those are the facts. Add to that the family NEVER SAW A WARRANT, before or after the shooting. The man was damn near a cripple. Yet we’re supposed to believe he was strong enough to come out of a miniscule hallway, swinging a sword? I call BS! The cops are so high strung that someone coming out of a room was all it took to get them to pull the trigger. And yes I HATE DIRTY COPS. Time for the good ones to stand up. And for the community to support them. A 100%. But the people in this valley are to lazy to find out which is which! How sad is that?

        • That IS why you are not a Sheriff. You dont shoot to injure. You shoot to eliminate the threat. Granted I think LASD is full of a bunch of trigger happy loonies, shooting them in the leg to injure is NOT an option.. moron.

          • Well then you’ll feel good that they killed him with 2 shots. A crippled old man. They must feel so proud. AND THEY FOUND NO ILLEGAL DRUGS OR WEAPONS. Guess they saved us from an old, retired (yes he worked his whole life) crippled, recovering addict. Guess we can all sleep a little better tonight knowing he’s dead.

  10. Hmmm….
    “A deputy-involved shooting occurred at that time and the suspect was shot multiple times and transported to the local hospital where he was pronounced dead.”
    They took him to the hospital?

    • “DEPUTY INVOLVED SHOOTING” means a deputy was involved with the shooting, they shot the man with the sword;) OMG 2 fatalities from Lancaster sheriff in 2 weeks