DISCLAIMER : If you're under the age of 13, or if you're sensitive to police brutality, violence, and scary stuff in general, I recommend you don't read this for your own safety.

Hello everyone. It's your detective Noel who's finally back after nearly 4 months. I apologise for my long absence. My museum job and adjusting to college life has really taken a toll on me, but I'm hoping to be more active and there is no way I'm not gonna leave you guys with anything during OCTOBER! One of everyone's FAVOURITE months! I hope you're all having a fun October! I know I am! Halloween is only 3 days away! I know we're all excited to dress up, eat candy, tell scary stories, and so much more! I've been celebrating Halloween all month! I'm hoping I can do another story or picture for my Halloween Special, but I got my wisdom teeth removed a few days ago so I've been very sore and tired due to my recovery process. But I don't wanna give up and I'll try to give you all something special for Halloween! I hope you're all having a fun and a safe October. Because unfortunately, Anthony Lee was not able to have one. This story has always left me in disbelief ever since I first heard it from the YouTuber Horror Stories. Credit goes to him and Wikipedia for the information. It really upsets me how such a talented actor with a bright career was taken so soon and no one responsible for his death seemed to care one bit. Enjoy the story.

Anthony Dwain Lee was an American Actor and Playwright who always had a love for drama. He was living the life of his dreams in the beautiful sunny city of Los Angeles, California. But tragically, he would meet a horrific fate on one of the most terrifying Halloween Parties in History. This is the story of Anthony Lee.

Anthony Lee was born on July 17th 1961 in Redding, California. He lived with a middle class family, who later moved to Sacramento where he attended Valley High School.

Lee grew up loving drama and he started acting at the age of 20 in a community acting class that performed plays and skits at retirement and assisted living homes. He started performing more professional plays and skits with The Sacramento Theatre Company.

In 1986, he travelled to Ashland, Oregon and auditioned at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, a world famous Regional Equity theatre. He was hired the following season at the theatre with a ten month contract where he would participate in many stage plays.

Lee was already starting a life full of fun and success, but things got even better for him when he met an actress at the theatre named Serena Scholl, and they fell in love. At first, they moved in together in Lee's home town of Sacramento, but they later moved to Seattle, Washington where they were married on August 8th 1988. The couple loved each other very much and Lee would go on to perform in even more plays in Seattle. He even won the 1995 LAWeekly award for "Best Actor" in Mitch Hale's "Buffalo Soldier" at "Theatre-Theater" in Hollywood.

In 1996, Lee and his wife Serena had a divorce, but the divorce did not stop Lee from enjoying his life and his love from drama. Nothing could take his love of acting away from him. It seemed like Anthony Lee was living the life of his dreams and nothing could have been better for him. But unfortunately, all of his success and happiness would come to a tragic end just a few days before Halloween 2000...

On this day, 24 years ago, in the early morning hours of October 28th 2000, Anthony Lee was attending a Halloween Party at one of his friends' mansions nicknamed "The Castle". He was super excited and having a lot of fun at the party. He dressed up as a red devil with a cape and a mask like he usually did at Halloween Parties, and he carried around a toy 357 Magnum Desert Eagle handgun.

At first, everything at the party seemed to be going perfectly fine, until 1:00 AM when two Los Angeles Police Department officers were called to the house responding to a noise complaint. The two officers were a woman named Natalie Humphreys, and a man named Tarriel Hopper. The two officers met a private security guard who was hired by one of the party's hosts. The security guard guided them to the kitchen where they would meet up with one of the party's hosts.

However, Officer Hopper was curious and left the kitchen through the side door and walked around the side of the mansion until he approached the glass door of a bedroom by an actor named Jeff Denton. Denton was friends with Lee and he was in the bedroom with Denton and another actor. The three were chatting and relaxing in the bedroom, taking a break from all the noise. Curious, Officer Hopper shined his flashlight through the glass door. Officer Hopper claimed Lee looked at him and aimed his toy gun at him, and Hopper was scared because he thought the gun was real.

Officer Tarriel Hopper then shot through the glass door nine times, striking Anthony Lee four times. He was shot once in the back of his head and three times in his back. Jeff Denton and the other actor weren't hit by any bullets, but Anthony Lee was killed instantly...

At first, the Los Angeles Police Department defended themselves, including the chief, Bernard Parks, who said that Officer Hopper was only fearing for his life when he saw Lee pointing his toy gun at him. However, the LAPD did not disclose any specific information about the shooting until more than a month later on December 4th when Lee's autopsy was released, revealing that he had been shot three times in his back and one time in the back of his head. Upon hearing this news, everyone was outraged and accused the LAPD of using deadly force against Lee and lying about what happened during the shooting.

Lee's parents passed away before him and now that he was also dead, his only family member who was still alive was his sister, Tina Vogt. One week after Lee's autopsy was released on December 11th, Vogt hired attorney Johnnie Cochran to help file a $100 million lawsuit against the LAPD. "LAPD has never seen a shooting they didn't think they could justify." Cochran said. Later that day, Cochran attended a press conference and claimed Officer Hopper was lying about fearing for his life when Lee pointed his toy gun at him, as he was only shot while he was facing away from Officer Hopper. Chief Parks on the other hand, theorised that Lee did aim his toy gun at Officer Hopper and then turned or ducked away from him. But Vogt and Cochran denied Parks' opinion that Lee aimed his toy gun at Officer Hopper and then turned away, saying that it was, "So improbable. We have asked our experts about that, and it is very, very improbable." Not only that, but Cochran even claimed Officer Hopper did not fear for his life and he knew Lee was holding a toy gun due to its bright orange tip on its barrel. "Witnesses said this was a replica gun, and if you know replicas, they have those little orange tips on them so people who come in contact with them who are trained become aware.". Cochran said.

Hoping to stop all the backlash and give everyone closure, the Los Angeles Police Department as well as Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley started to investigate Officer Hopper to see if he was justified in shooting Lee. Officer Hopper claimed that while he was searching outside the home, he noticed a man taking a close look through a glass door. Officer Hopper approached the man and looked through the door to see what the man was looking at and that's when he saw Lee and his friends talking in a dimly lit room. Officer Hopper shined his flashlight into the room to get a better look at Lee and his friends, who he thought were dealing drugs to each other.

"The black male turns and looks toward the glass door where I'm positioned. He looks directly at me and we make eye contact. Almost simultaneously, upon making eye contact, he reached for his waistband with his right hand and removed a blue steel semi-automatic handgun. At which point, fearing for my life, I drew my weapon from my holster and after he removed the gun he pointed the weapon, his gun, right at me and fearful for my safety and my life, I fired my weapon, my service weapon. During this entire time, it happened very, very quickly, his gun was continually pointing at me. I fired my weapon, continually assessing the situation, and it was very, very rapid and I fired and he never dropped the weapon. He never made an attempt to drop the weapon or anything. The weapon stayed pointed toward me while firing. I'm moving backwards toward a position of cover and, as this is happening, I recognize that my weapon is out of battery." Officer Hopper told the investigators. During their investigation, the LAPD and the LADA created a computer reenactment of the shooting based on physical evidence. According to the LAPD, the reenactment was more accurate to Officer Hopper's recollection of the shooting.

A year after the shooting in October 2001, the LAPD internal review board determined that Officer Hopper's actions were justifiable and he was "in policy" using deadly force against Lee and the only thing they asked him to do was seek additional training. He was never fired and never received any consequences for Lee's death.

Lee's friend Jeff Denton, who was in the same room as Lee during the shooting and was uninjured claimed that he suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from the shooting and he and another man who attended the party, Will Frey also filed lawsuits against the LAPD, but they both lost their lawsuits. Vogt's suit was also never brought to court since the security guards working at the party, who were the shooting's key witnesses never came to the trial themselves.

More than 2 years after the shooting in February 2003, the LAPD finally settled with Tina Vogt's lawsuit and she was awarded $225,000.

Lee's death was a devastating loss to everyone who knew and loved him. No one could comprehend how a talented man with a bright future was taken so soon by such irresponsible actions by people who were supposed to be trusted.

To this day, 24 years later, the story of Anthony Lee lives on as a haunting reminder that even fun events such as Halloween parties can end in tragedy and is a perfect example of how brutal police can be to anyone.

The end.