LA County Investigating Death of Incarcerated Person as Homicide

LANCASTER, CA – California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation officials are investigating the March 7, 2025, death of an incarcerated person at California State Prison, Los Angeles County (LAC) as a homicide.

At 7:20 a.m., incarcerated person Terrance B. Shaw allegedly attacked incarcerated person Joshua L. Peppers on the Facility C patio. Staff immediately responded, quelling the attack by utilizing chemical agents and non-lethal weapons.

Officers immediately initiated life-saving measures on Peppers and activated 911. Peppers was taken to the prison’s triage and treatment area and then to an outside medical facility. A hospital doctor pronounced Peppers deceased at 8:03 a.m.

Officers recovered one improvised weapon at the scene of the attack. No other injuries were reported. Officials have limited movement on the patio where the attack occurred to facilitate the investigation.

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.

The Office of the Inspector General has been notified, and the Los Angeles County Coroner will determine Pepper’s official cause of death.

Peppers, 39, was most recently 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. On July 24, 2019, he was sentenced to six years, four months for second-degree robbery as a second striker with enhancements for the use of a firearm and inflicting great bodily injury.  

Shaw, 42, was most recently returned from parole with a new sentence from Monterey County on Nov. 17, 2023, to serve 14 years, four months 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.

LAC houses approximately 2,665 minimum- and maximum-security inmates, serves as a medical hub for enhanced outpatient levels of health care, and provides academic classes and vocational programs and employs approximately 3,500 people.