The State - News from May 27, 1987

One San Quentin inmate was fatally shot and three others wounded when a racial fight broke out in the exercise yard, forcing prison guards to open fire, a prison official said. Percy Kimbrough, 29, of Los Angeles was shot once in the chest by guards after nine inmates refused a warning to stop their fighting, said John Reid, administrative assistant to the warden. Two other unidentified inmates were also wounded by gunfire, one in the shoulder and the other in the wrist, Reid said. Another inmate sustained stab wounds in the incident. The fight among blacks and Latinos began in an integrated housing unit exercise yard and quickly escalated to the use of prison-made plastic stabbing instruments, Reid said. Two prison guards on the gun rails issued a warning to the inmates, fired warning shots, and then fired nine rounds into the group, he said. After the shooting, the inmates stopped fighting and the injured were taken to the prison infirmary.