Police Brutality / Individual record
Benjamin Peter Ashley
The Washington Post's Fatal Force database records Benjamin Peter Ashley in a fatal on-duty police shooting on 2015-08-15 in Inyokern, CA. Individual circumstances and legal outcome require case-specific review.
- Record ID
- PB-243
- Incident date
- August 15, 2015
- Outcome
- Fatal
- Location
- Inyokern, CA
- Agency
- Kern County Sheriff's Office
- Category
- Fatal on-duty police shooting
- Age (reported)
- 34
What happened
Benjamin Peter Ashley, 34, was shot and killed by Kern County sheriff's deputies near Inyokern, California, on August 15, 2015, ending an extensive search following allegations that he killed a civilian and wounded deputies. Sheriff Donny Youngblood said deputies encountered Ashley outside a convenience store along Highway 395 and ordered him to show his hands. Police reported that Ashley drew a pistol and deputies fired. The coroner later stated that deputy gunshots caused fatal wounds and that Ashley had also shot himself. Those distinct findings should be preserved rather than assuming a single fatal bullet source. The underlying murder allegation was not tried because Ashley died.
Investigation & findings
Individual legal and investigative outcome not yet reviewed.
Washington Post Fatal Force v2; 2015–2024
Source record details
- Source incident ID
- 743
- Race code in source
- B
- Race source method
- not_available
- Gender (source)
- male
- Armed status (source)
- gun
- Flee status (source)
- not
- Agency IDs (source)
- 180
Sources & records
- Primary source
- Additional source
- Methodology and national police killings trackingMapping Police Violence · Dataset/methodology
- Fatal Force v2 — fatal on-duty police shootings, 2015–2024The Washington Post · Dataset