The recent deaths of black men George Floyd and Rayshard Brooks have sparked international outrage among citizens for police brutality. A rumor has been spreading about the recent deaths of five black men claiming they allegedly hung themselves from trees themselves.
A mass wave of suicides?
According to Snopes, residents discovered a black man, Robert Fuller's dead body hanging from a tree in California following Floyd's death. Local Authorities initially ruled the death as a suicide, but Fuller's family requested officials to conduct an investigation.
When Fuller's case went viral on social media, several users shared there have been similar occurrences after Floyd's death on May 25. One post states there have been five deaths of black men hanging from trees across the country.
The social media post seems to refer to the deaths of three black men, namely; Malcolm Harsch, Robert Fuller, and Dominique Alexander, whose lifeless bodies were found hanging from trees. Authorities ruled both Fuller's and Alexander's cases as suicides. However, authorities in the case of Harsch have stated they do not suspect any foul play involved.
The fourth death the post mentions most likely refers to an unknown man found dead hanging from a tree in Shady Acres in Houston, Texas. Social media users quickly identified the victim as a black male, but later on, authorities discovered that he was actually a Latino man. The victim's family allegedly told authorities that he had suicidal tendencies.
No reports could be found of the fifth incident the post mentions and is likely a death that was mistaken to have occurred recently.
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The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), with the help of the US Attorney's Office and the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, is currently investigating the deaths of Fuller and Harsch, as reported by the Time.
The announcement was made after the families of both men publicly demanded authorities to look into the cases. On May 31, Harsch's body was discovered hanging from a tree in Victorville, Calif, and less than two weeks afterward, on June 10, Fuller was found hanging from a tree inside a park in Palmdale, California, 50 miles away.
Cause of death
Initially, police officials stated no foul play was suspected in either of the two cases, but both men's families have announced that neither of the two was suicidal.
Medical experts who performed an autopsy on Dominique Alexander's body ruled his death as a suicide. The victim's brother, Keats Alexander, said on Monday that they were just trying to mourn for their beloved.
The fourth man social media users initially identified as black, was later discovered to be Latino is still unidentified. Authorities have shared that they do not suspect any third party involvement in the case, and the man's family reported that he was suicidal.
Reports on a fifth death have not been found. While some social media users suggest that the incident occurred in Portland or Atlanta, the most likely outcome is there was a mistake of relating it to an older incident or the case of a black man who was recently shot and not hanged.
