Reports: Black Man Found Hanging From A Tree In Southern Mississippi

Police stock. Stock image of police crime scene tape in Salford. Picture date: Tuesday January 21, 2014. Photo credit should read: Dave Thompson/PA Wire URN:18755943
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A black man was reportedly discovered hanging from a tree in Claiborne, Miss. on Thursday, sparking a local and federal investigation into the death.

Port Gibson Sheriff Marvin Lucas told local station WJTV that authorities discovered the man hanging on Old Rodney Road. Both Mississippi law enforcement and the FBI have opened investigations.

The man was identified as African-American by CBS News.

CNN’s justice correspondent Evan Perez reported on Thursday that the man was “found hanging from a tree in some woods in property behind the residence where he was living.”

“They found him this morning about 10 this morning,” Perez said on “The Lead with Jake Tapper.” “They were looking for him because he had been missing since early this month.”

The Claiborne County Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was asking the Department of Justice to launch a probe, WJTV reported.

According to the local station, there was not yet information to determine whether the death was a homicide or a suicide.

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Notable Replies

  1. I was going to say “let’s not rush to judgement here as it is possible that this could be a suicide” until I caught that he’d been missing for almost a month. . .so now I want to know if there are any suspects.

  2. I hope the law doesn’t botch the investigation the way they did in the case of Lennon Lacy.

  3. Very sad either way. As you probably know, police won’t give details because if not a suicide they do not want to disclose evidence of which only the killer(s) would be aware.

  4. The Supreme Court has ruled that our society is now post-racial, so I’m sure there’s nothing malicious involved.

  5. His name is Otis Byrd.

    CNN is yapping about Putin and North Korea

    MSNBC is yapping about Bibi and Israel

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