A former Ferguson protester believes her son was “lynched” and not suicidal as law enforcement claim and wants an investigation into his death.
Danye Jones, 24, was discovered hanging from a tree in the backyard of the St. Louis home he shared with his mom. His death has been ruled a suicide, according to Newsweek.
Melissa McKinnes, Jones’ mom, wrote on Facebook saying: “They lynched my baby.”
“He was not suicidal at all,” she told KMOV. “He was in good spirits,” she added. “What it appears to be to us is that somebody took my son.” She added that her son was starting a real estate business at the time of his death.
McKinnes said that her family has been targeted because she was involved in the unrest in Ferguson in 2014 following a grand jury’s decision not to press charges against police officer Darren Wilson after he shot and killed Mike Brown.
“They watch my house, and when my husband and my son would approach the car, they would drive off,” she said KMOV.
St. Louis County Police department spokesman Shawn McGuire said that Jones’ body did not show signs of struggle or trauma when officers arrived and that the family reported his death as a suicide when they called 911, per the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Per the Associated Press, law enforcement officials are already looking into the deaths of Ferguson protesters DeAndre Joshua in November 2014 and Darren Seals in September 2016, after their bodies were found inside torched vehicles.
