A man who was found hanging from a tree in Piedmont Park on Thursday may have committed suicide.
Police responding to Piedmont Park in midtown Atlanta around 5 a.m. found a man hanging from a rope in a tree near the Charles Allen Dr. gate.
Social media users — already fired up by cop shootings of 2 black men — referred to the hanging as a “modern day lynching.”
But police and the coroner, who are trained to assess such things, determined the man had committed suicide.
“There were no discernible signs of a struggle or foul play,” police spokesman Donald Hannah said. A “Fulton County medical examiner concurred that the death was consistent with a suicide.”
Mayor Kasim Reed referred the case to the FBI anyway.
“I am deeply saddened by the loss of a young man’s life last night in Piedmont Park,” Reed said. “This disturbing event demands our full attention. The Atlanta Police Department (APD) is conducting a robust investigation into his death and I have asked to receive regular briefings on the status of the investigation.”
