(L.A.) Joshua Peppers, 39, Died in a Hospital

Case Number: 2025-04275

Los Angeles County is reporting the death of a 39-year-old male that occurred in a hospital.

The coroner’s office has identified the man as Joshua Peppers and listed his race/ethnicity as Black + White/Caucasian.

Manner of Death: Homicide

Cause of Death: Sharp-Force Injury of Chest

RIP JOSHUA LEE PEPPERS (November 7, 1985 – March 7, 2025)

Formal pronouncement of death was made on Friday at 8:03 a.m.

The decedent was incarcerated in state prison when he was attacked by a fellow inmate. In the aftermath of the altercation, he was transported outside the facility to a hospital where he was officially declared deceased.

Terrance B. Shaw, 42, has been identified as being responsible for the attack that happened on the Facility C patio at the California State Prison of Los Angeles County (LAC) in Lancaster.

Peppers had been received from San Bernardino County in 2017 to serve nine years for second-degree robbery as a second striker with an enhancement for inflicting great bodily injury.

In 2019, he was sentenced to six years and four months for second-degree robbery as a second striker with enhancements for the use of a firearm and inflicting great bodily injury.

As for Shaw, he was most recently returned from parole with a new sentence from Monterey County in 2023 to serve 14 years 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.