Shooting May Not Have Been Hate Crime

PALMDALE â€”  For the second time this week, authorities cast doubt Thursday on a possible hate crime in the Antelope Valley, saying an African American allegedly shot by a group of Latinos may not have been targeted solely because of his race.

“There’s no question he was shot,� Sheriff’s Det. Steven Lankford of the Palmdale Sheriff’s Station said. “But I question whether it was a hate crime.�

On Wednesday, a 15-year-old African American boy from Lancaster admitted he lied when he told authorities a group of skinheads beat him. In fact, police said, the teen picked a fight with two black high school acquaintances and lied to his mother about the fight to avoid punishment.

Lankford said the shooting victim, 32-year-old Jason Burt Taylor, also expressed doubts he was targeted because of his race. Taylor said he confronted one of his assailants at a grocery store a few days before the shooting, the detective said.

“They had words, but he doesn’t know who they are,� Lankford said.

Initially, authorities said, Taylor did not recognize his attackers.

Taylor, who initially told authorities his name was Kevin Naylor, told investigators he was walking near his Littlerock home Monday night when four young Latino men in a white compact sedan pulled alongside.

Taylor, who speaks Spanish, said the men shouted racial epithets in Spanish and shot him in the buttocks. He was briefly hospitalized, but was recovering at home Thursday.

No witnesses to the shooting had been found Thursday.

“Were these guys looking for someone to shoot just out of hatred? Probably not,� Lankford said. “It probably had more to do with drugs or something like that.�

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Taylor denied he was involved in any illegal activity, Lankford said.

But Lankford said Taylor has a long criminal history and a $15,000 arrest warrant for failure to pay child support.

Taylor also has about seven aliases, and has on at least two occasions given authorities false names, Lankford said.

Deputies continued to investigate another possible hate crime that occurred between Sunday and Monday when vandals scrawled hate symbols on the front door of Temple Beth Knesset Bamidbar, the Antelope Valley’s only Jewish synagogue.

Hate crimes declined last year in the Antelope Valley but racial relations remain a challenge, community leaders said. According to the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission, the region has a disproportionate number of hate crimes relative to its population.