(L.A.) Gary Parsons, 51, Died at the State Prison in Lancaster

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Case Number: 2025-16073

Los Angeles County is reporting the death of a 51-year-old White/Caucasian male that occurred at a prison/correctional facility.

The coroner’s office identified the man as Gary Parsons.

Manner of Death: Natural

Cause of Death: Hypertensive and Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease

RIP GARY WILIAM PARSONS (1975 – October 12, 2025)

Formal pronouncement of death was made on Sunday.

Ruling by the deputy medical examiner was published on December 19, presumably after the results of tox screening had come back negative for substances.

The decedent was incarcerated at the California State Prison in Lancaster. He was serving a 35-year sentence for the murder of a man on a bus that was passing through Tulare County. His application of parole was most recently denied in August 2024.

On June 23, 1996, Parsons was on a bus which he initially boarded in Los Angeles with a destination of Sacramento. Parsons started speaking to another passenger, who was riding the bus with his seven-year-old son. Parsons stated he wanted to do some drugs. The passenger warned him against it by saying that the bus driver would throw him off the bus. Parsons displayed a revolver in his waistband and said, “No, he won’t.”

While the bus was stopped at a station in Goshen, witnesses on the bus heard a “firecracker” sound and observed an adult male victim, a passenger, bleeding from his ear. Parsons exited the bus, only to get back on, after which he approached the victim and fired another shot into his head. Parsons fled, only to return to the bus station where he was arrested. Parsons did not know the victim and had no previous interactions with him.

In 1997, Parsons was tried and convicted of murder with the use of a firearm.

In 1998, he was sent to Pelican Bay State Prison, a supermax prison in Crescent City.

At some point, he was transferred to California State Prison, Los Angeles County (LAC), a male-only state prison located in the city of Lancaster. The only state prison located in L.A. County, it is also referenced as Los Angeles County State Prison, CSP-Los Angeles County, and CSP-LAC.