Biography
Bruce "Deacon" Washington was a 26-year-old member of the Black Panther Party in Oakland who was shot in the back and killed on October 26, 1974 while shielding children during a shooting at a teen dance held at the Party's Community Learning Center (Son of Man Temple, 6118 East 14th Street). Three people, including a 12-year-old, were also wounded; Washington died after more than eight hours of emergency surgery at Highland Hospital. As The Black Panther reported (November 2, 1974), Party spokesperson Elaine Brown said the Party believed the attack had been provoked by police to disrupt the Center's community work.
The Black Panther of August 10, 1974 reported that a Bruce Washington — presumably the same Oakland Party member — was the fourth B.P.P. member charged, on two misdemeanor counts, in the wake of the Fox nightclub arrests of Huey P. Newton and seven other Panthers that month.
