36-year-old Darrick Collins, shot and killed Monday night, after a Los Angeles County deputy fired several rounds through a fence - two striking him in the back and one in the neck - may have had reason to fear the police that night.

“Collins, the father of two, had been arrested two weeks before on suspicion of drug possession, investigators said,” the LA Times reports. “On Monday, he was found with 24 tablets made with Ecstasy and methamphetamine, officials said.”

But the police had no way of knowing what was in Collins’ pockets. According to the LAPD, Collins and a friend allegedly fit the description of suspects in an armed robbery, but he ran when they tried to detain him for questioning.