Officers said Ely’s daughters told them Cameron had become erratic and volatile in the days before their mother was killed. The daughters deny saying that.
The family of actor Ron Ely, who played TV’s “Tarzan” in the classic series, is speaking to Inside Edition about what they claim is a police cover-up. Authorities say Ely’s son, Cameron, killed his mother, and that the fatal shooting of the 30-year-old son was “justifiable homicide.”
Daughters Kirsten and Kaitland say they have endured unimaginable pain and suffering in the year since the killing of their mother and brother on October 15, 2019. The deaths occurred at the Hope Ranch community on California's Santa Barbara coast. Police say Ron Ely called sheriff's deputies to say his son had stabbed his wife, Valerie, and fled the family home.
The sisters say Cameron was unarmed when deputies shot him.
The deputies said that when they approached Cameron, he had blood on him and believing him to be the suspect they ordered him to get down on the ground. Instead they say Cameron "quickly moved his hands towards his waist and yelled, ‘I have a gun!’”
The deputies also said they “saw a glint of something reflective in the area of his right hip,” and that he "lunged forward."
The officers fired 22 shots that struck Cameron’s torso, neck, and back, but his sisters allege that Cameron did not threaten deputies and had his hands raised.
In a law enforcement audio obtained by Inside Edition, a deputy can be heard telling Cameron to keep his hands up, and asking another deputy to "glove up." Then shots ring out.
Deputies found no weapons on Cameron's body. His sisters claim he did not kill their mother, and that the stabbing was actually done by an intruder.
Ron Ely, 82, was too frail to speak at the time, his daughters said. He later filed federal lawsuit against Santa Barbara County claiming the deputies did nothing to help his dying wife and their shooting of his son was unjustified.
Officers claim Ely’s daughters had told them that Cameron had become erratic, unstable, and volatile in the days leading up to their mother’s killing. The daughters deny saying that.
RELATED STORIES
