SAN QUENTIN, Calif. - San Quentin State Prison officials on Wednesday say are investigating the death of inmate 66-year-old man as a homicide.
In a statement, the prison said that just before 1 a.m. a correctional officer found John Sullivan unresponsive in his cell while conducting an institution population count.
Despite life-saving measures, Sullivan was pronounced dead at 1:18 a.m.
San Quentin officials said that Sullivan had been sent there on March 3, 2016, from Placer County to serve a 10-year sentence for failure to register as a sex offender, a second-strike.
Investigators identified Sammeon Waller, 28, as the suspect.
Officials did not provide evidence to back up that accusation or provide a possible motive. They also did not say how Sullivan died.
Waller was admitted from Los Angeles County on Dec. 20, 2017, to serve seven years for first-degree burglary and injury to a dependent adult causing deathor great bodily injury.
He has been rehoused in the Administrative Segregation Unit pending the investigation.
John Sullivan was killed on March 10, 2021
Sammeon Waller is accused of killing inmate John Sullivan on March 10, 2021