Two Arrested in Fatal Shooting Near Restaurant

Police arrested two men Friday in connection with the fatal shooting of a 44-year-old man outside a McDonald’s restaurant on Beach Boulevard.

Vernon Windell Flournoy, 44, was shot outside the fast-food restaurant just after 7:30 p.m. Thursday after encountering two men in the 20300 block of Beach Boulevard, according to Officer Mike Corcoran.

Shot with a small-caliber handgun, the Huntington Beach resident staggered into the restaurant and collapsed. Horrified patrons and workers tried to give him first aid. The victim died a short time later at Pacific Hospital Care Center, police said.

Because Flournoy was African American, and the two suspects are white, police have received inquiries about whether the slaying was a hate crime and are investigating that possibility, Corcoran said.

“But it must be clearly understood at this point that there is no evidence to suggest this was anything more than two individuals coming upon one and an altercation ensued, resulting in the death of one,” he added.

Police arrested Jonathan Russell Kennedy, 19, of Huntington Beach on suspicion of murder at 12:30 a.m. He is being held in the Huntington Beach jail on $250,000 bail and is expected to be arraigned Monday, Corcoran said.

At 3 p.m., detectives began questioning a second suspect, a 17-year-old Huntington Beach youth. He was later arrested on suspicion of murder.