ATLANTA: Black Man Found Hanging From Tree In Piedmont Park

Black Man Found Hanging From Tree In Piedmont Park

The FBI is investigating the death of a black man found hanging from a tree in Atlanta’s Piedmont Park early Thursday morning.

Atlanta police quickly wrote it off as a suicide, which sparked outrage from social media users. #PiedmontParkHanging is currently trending on Twitter.

Mayor Kasim Reed released a statement on Thursday afternoon asking everyone to be patient as a full investigation is conducted.

Via AJC.com:

“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.”

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

Emergency officials arrived on the scene and pronounced the man dead, he 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.”

Twitter users, many of them on edge in the wake of two recent videotaped shooting deaths of black men at the hands of police officers, weren’t buying it.

Reed asked the public to be patient.

“Everything we have seen suggests that there was no foul play involved, but I want to state clearly and unequivocally that we will not prejudge the situation,” Reed said. “APD will share all evidence discovered in the course of the investigation. We ask for the public’s support and cooperation as we work to resolve this matter.”

The man’s name has not been released.

I will provide an update on this story as more info becomes available.

In the meantime, see some of the tweets below:

Amazing that police have determined cause of death PRIOR to investigating. That's incredible! #PiedmontParkHanging https://t.co/uJ7sRFjreI
— Kathleen Smith (@MrsDrAtlantis) July 7, 2016

so no correlation at all????? Yeah right, I will not stay quiet.
#PiedmontParkHanging pic.twitter.com/rDZJ9Irfn7
— alli fitz (@allicatttx) July 7, 2016