Atlanta Man's Body Found Hanging In Piedmont Park

Atlanta Man’s Body Found Hanging In Piedmont Park

Early this morning, as many of us were still mourning the deaths of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling, news broke on social media that a body was found hanging from a tree in Atlanta’s Piedmont Park.

Many were scrambling looking for more information on the rumor in fear that it would be yet another act of violence committed against a black person.

Unfortunately, the AJC has confirmed at least half of that fear…

Atlanta police say that is not the situation at all, confirming the body found was the victim of a suicide.

Officers were called to the Charles Allen entrance of the park just before 5 a.m. and discovered a man’s body hanging from a tree by a rope, spokesman Donald Hannah said.

Emergency officials arrived on the scene and pronounced the man dead, Hannah said.

“There were no discernible signs of a struggle or foul play,” Hannah said. A “Fulton County medical examiner concurred that the death was consistent with a suicide.”

Atlanta mayor Kasim Reed issued this statement regarding the hanging:

Sadly, despite the police report, we have to side-eye the situation *just* a tad bit to account for the fact that, well, police be lyin’. That said, it’s still sad to know that someone took their life in a such a painful and public manner.

Image via Shutterstock