KHTS Radio Santa Clarita Radio – Santa Clarita News
Hundreds of Santa Clarita residents gathered in Central Park Saturday night to honor the deaths of Robert Fuller and Malcolm Harsch.
Robert Fuller and Malcolm Harsch, two black men found hanging by the neck in Palmdale and Victorville respectively, were held in honor at a vigil by Santa Clarita residents in Central park Saturday.
“In 1964, I found my first body hanging from a rope. That image stays with me till today,” said Harry Reed, a Santa Clarita resident. “The lynching doesn’t just affect the one that they lynch. It affects everybody who sees it, hears about it. And most importantly, who allows themselves to be influenced by it. The number one thing we can’t do is let it stop us.”
Fuller was found with a rope around his neck about 3:40 a.m., June 10, in Poncitlan Square, across from Palmdale City Hall. Authorities initially said the death appeared to be a suicide, although an official cause of death has not yet been made.
Harsch, 38, was found hanging from a tree near a homeless encampment late last month in Victorville, about 53 miles east of Palmdale, officials have said.
One Palmdale resident joined the Santa Clarita vigil, and spoke on being part of positive change.
“After everything that’s happening nationwide at 57 years of age, I said ‘I’m going to dedicate myself and be part of a solution of positive change,'” he said. I’m Mexican-American, and I came out
Jamie Araki / KHTS News
here as a child and I left East L.A. in Boyle Heights for a better life.”
See Related: Santa Clarita Representatives React To Hanging Deaths Of Robert Fuller, Malcolm Harsch
Congressman Mike Garcia, R-Santa Clarita, released the following statement regarding the recent discovery of the two men found hanged.
“The recent discovery of two bodies hanging from trees brings back horrible memories of our country’s history during this most difficult time,” said Garcia. “I am encouraged to hear that local authorities, the Office of the Attorney General, the FBI and the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division will fully investigate these instances.”
Assemblywoman Christy Smith, D-Santa Clarita, addressed the crowd Saturday on how grief can be used to enact change.
“Embrace the grief, let it power you, let it compel you to whatever is next for you,” Smith said to the crowd. “And let’s not let the loss of all of those lives — the ones that we didn’t see because they didn’t make the news, and the ones who most recently did Ahmad, Aubrey, Brianna Taylor, Mr. Fuller, let’s not let that be wasted… Stay strong, keep standing on street corners, keep demanding the country that you want this country to be.”
Sponsored Articles
KHTS FM 98.1 and AM 1220 is Santa Clarita’s only local radio station. KHTS mixes in a combination of news, traffic, sports, and features along with your favorite adult contemporary hits. Santa Clarita news and features are delivered throughout the day over our airwaves, on our website and through a variety of social media platforms. Our KHTS national award-winning daily news briefs are now read daily by 34,000+ residents. A vibrant member of the Santa Clarita community, the KHTS broadcast signal reaches all of the Santa Clarita Valley and parts of the high desert communities located in the Antelope Valley. The station streams its talk shows over the web, reaching a potentially worldwide audience. Follow @KHTSRadio on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
“ Harsch, 38, was found hanging from a tree near a homeless encampment late last month in Victorville, about 53 miles east of Palmdale, officials have said.”
You left out where the video showed he killed himself AND the family confirmed it.
But that doesn’t fit the narrative.
Outrageous and unforgivable! This particular KHTS article is dated June 21st, 2020, and it provides half cocked quotes from local politicians on both sides of the aisle, along with local activists contributing to the false narrative about alleged racism, implying these apparent suicides were actually murders committed by nafarious individuals and that racism is systemically alive and very well here in SoCal. Yet yesterday, June 20th, in a KNX 1070 a.m. radio morning report, and in a June 19th article in the Daily Press, a Victor Valley newspaper, it was reported that Malcolm Harsch, was seen in a security camera video hanging himself with an HDMI cord, and his family confirmed this. In both the Harsch and Robert Fuller death cases, authorities investigated and their initial determinations were that both men hung themselves. KHTS, Christy Smith, Mike Garcia and whoever organized and attended the “honor vigil”at Central Park last night are extremely misguided at least and malicious propagandists at worst. KHTS, are you folks now part of the misinformation and propaganda activities campaign?
Hey David.. are you going to list anywhere in your article that both were ruled suicides? Video evidence on one in victorville.? Why are you omitting the facts, trying to get a job at CNN as a race hustler?
Supposed reporters David Melarnik & Michael Brown frequently leave out facts/truths!! To use the word “lynching” only inflames more Black racial tensions! Why not use hangings?!
Both ruled suicide. The family of the gentleman in Victorville have even given a press release acknowledged that.
Please khts don’t be like the biased media present better headlines & stories with all facts.
Thank you for commenting on the fact that both were ruled suicides. The article is lacking pertinent information.
Please update the report to show more facts.
We need to learn more about suicide prevention and reasons that so many will be committing suicide in the days, months and years to come. It is sad that so few articles and reports are not addressing mental health issues.
Since this is the only reporting I have seen about these two hangings, and the preliminary police report mentions suicide in one of the deaths, I find it uncomfortable and troubling that lynching is mentioned twice by the 2nd paragraph. It is unfortunate that, given the incredible tension in our nation, state, and community that KHTS would publish this without mentioning the reported video of the actual suicide in Victorville. As to the other hanging. Not one shred of evidence has been produced to substantiate the article that reports of a possible lynching. What the heck are you guys at KHTS thinking posting this kind of toxic commentary without backing it up with facts?
Agreed.
Posting the truth is sometimes not the best news. I believe that at times, the incitement of things is what these reporters want do they can report that.
Both suicides and both not residents of Santa Clarita, this “local” paper is garbage.
I wonder when someone has such a tormented mental instability, when they see all these articles with their Names & “lights, camera, action”—-that others think, now I’m finally going to get noticed and then commit suicide?!?!?
It is really sad that all of the facts have not been covered. The man is Victorville, Malcolm Harsch ,was ruled a suicide and the Palmdale man, Robert Fuller, is still under investigation. Why use the word lynching so for freely? It takes away from the true meaning of the past. Also Christie Smith, why do you put their names with the other victims of police shootings? Stop trying to change the narrative and the facts! You just lost my vote. look at the difference of the two statements. Mike Garcia is promoting legal ways to make change and Smith is promoting nothing more than standing on street corners. It has lost it’s message, now it is time to do work.
The usual poor reporting by David Melarnik & Michael Brown! Their word of “lynching” continues to inflame black hatred for innocent whites of horrible things done long ago, that nobody alive agrees with and not responsible for!
Shame on KHTS for false reporting. So disappointing. This article should be retracted and rewritten.
IF you read what the article was about, the event at Central Park, you will notice that KHTS was quoting one of the speakers at the Vigil. I did not take it as the reporter’s opinion.
Both of these were identified as suicides right from the beginning but the politcal media and family couldn’t believe it so investigations had to be done. In the meantime the political media is screaming “lynching” and all their sheep are following. I’ve read the pied piper when I was 5 but never thought I would ever see it for real after all its just a fairy tale, Right? Can anyone think for themselves or does everyone need the political media to think for them?
That’s why the Liberal media keep performing this way—the Liberals/Demonocrats keep brainwashing the sheep for more votes—screw the USA and the people in it, just vote Demonocrat! Cover-up of truth/facts & decent reality! Support BLM no matter what they do, just vote, vote, vote Demonocrat!!☠️???
Why would KHTS allow this garbage of an article that to be printed? Have you officially given into the leftist’s?
In my opinion, if the author appears to have the wrong facts, it doesn’t mean KHTS has given in to the far left. It means the article was hastily printed, most likely. All of that said, the deaths of these two young men is sad and we should feel sympathy for their families, however they died.