HAWTHORNE, CA—It was a remarkable shooting homicide that claimed the life of a mother, severely injured her son and ended in the shooting death of the aggressor by a cop who witnessed the event.
Stanley Ross White III, 25, and Brandon Armon Lavonne White, 19, were arrested by Hawthorne police officers (HPD) on Wednesday, April 1 at approximately 1 p.m. along the 14200 block of Kornblum Avenue in Hawthorne. A third man who had been in the vehicle, Robert Washington, 38, was shot to death by a Hawthorne police officer moments after Washington produced two pistols and killed Denise Barry, 44, and wounded her son.
Brandon White was charged with conspiracy to commit a crime (182(A)(1)PC) and first degree murder (187(A)PC). He was also found to have four outstanding warrants for failure to appear (853.7PC) from Long Beach PD, despite the fact he lives on Tumbleweed Drive in Bloomington. He was in the back seat of the car. He claimed to be unemployed.
Stanley White, the car’s driver, was also charged with conspiracy to commit a crime (182(A)(1)PC) and first degree murder (187(A)PC). According to police reports, he works for a moving company.
Both men share a residence in the San Bernardino County town. Police said the deceased shooter was also from that area.
According to police and news reports, the three men were in a white Cadillac when Barry and her son were driving beside them. Police say that the victim’s son, 12 years old, laughed at one of the men’s bare feet hanging out of the window. This apparently prompted the men to start following the woman and her son. Barry eventually pulled up beside a Hawthorne police officer’s car, manned by HPD officer Alex Kahn, and was told by Kahn to pull in front of his vehicle. That is when the Cadillac pulled up, and Washington exited the vehicle and began firing two pistols. He shot and killed Barry and as her son exited the vehicle to escape, shot him too. Before the shooter could give chase, however, the Hawthorne officer shot and killed Washington.
Barry was a Metro bus operator, and she and her son were on their way to his barber when she was murdered. Neither she nor her son knew the three men, and according to statements from the Whites and the dead shooter’s family, they did not know her or her son.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) has since taken over the investigation, and the L.A. County District Attorney has become involved. “We filed two charges of murder against Stanley White on April 3,” said D.A. Assistant Chief of Media Relations Jane Robison when reached by telephone. “His arraignment will be on April 23 at Airport Court.”
Asked if a case had been filed against Brandon White, Robison replied, “We have no case on him.”
Bail for the Whites was initially set at $1 million each for the murder and conspiracy charges; Brandon White had an additional $2,752 bail for the four warrants. The murder charges against Brandon White were dropped on Friday, April 3, according to LASD Homicide Lt. Dave Coleman, but he may still be in custody by Hawthorne PD for the warrants.
The 12-year old boy was released from the hospital this week and is now in the custody of family members.
Read More:
LATIMES: Mystery surrounds Hawthorne killing
CBSLA: Vigil held for woman killed senselessly
