Lennon Lacy Death: FBI to Investigate Bladenboro, North Carolina Teen's Supposed Hanging Suicide After Concerns From NAACP, Coroner, Mother
The FBI said it will be investigating the death of a 17-year-old boy in North Carolina.
Lennon Lacy's body was found hanging from a trailer park swing set by a dog leash and belt that his family claimed did not belong to him.
Lennon's death was ruled a suicide, however, the unusual circumstances of the black teen's death have been cause for suspicion, with the local coroner raising questions as well, The Associated Press reports. A team of federal investigators now say they will be looking into the incident.
A 911 caller reported Lacy's body in a trailer park in a small town, Bladenboro, North Carolina, on Aug. 29.
The state medical examiner ruled that the teen had killed himself, but his mother, Claudia Lacy, is adamant that her son didn't take his own life.
"When I saw him, I just knew automatically he didn't do that to himself," she told AP. "If he was going to harm himself, his demeanor would have changed. His whole routine, everything, his attitude, everything would have changed."
Claudia said she saw Lennon, her youngest of four sons, that Friday night heading off to a high school football game, where he played middle linebacker. The next morning, she was identifying her son's body in the back of an ambulance.
The swing set where Lacy was found is within sight of around 10 trailers. His feet were found just two inches from the ground, but the shoes on his body were several sizes too small for his feet and one had fallen to the ground. His mother brought her concerns to the state chapter of the NAACP, which organized a march to demand for a federal investigation.
On Friday, spokeswoman at the FBI office in Charlotte, Shelley Lynch, confirmed the agency would review the death, Yahoo reports.
"We don't know what happened that terrible night," Rev. William Barber, president of the state chapter of the NAACP, said. "It is possible that a 17-year-old excited about life could commit suicide. The family is prepared to accept the truth. They're not prepared to accept this theory that's been posited with a rush to a conclusion of suicide so quickly. We have said there are far too many unanswered questions. The family deserves more."
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