A Missouri Republican and gubernatorial candidate died after he shot himself in the head Thursday at his home in St. Louis.
Thomas Schweich, 54, was the leading Republican candidate for Missouri's governor's office, according to CNN. Clayton police said the state auditor, who had just won his second term while running unopposed in 2014, appeared to have shot himself once in the head. Detectives are investigating the apparent suicide and an autopsy is pending.
Clayton Police Chief Kevin Murphy said Schweich was pronounced dead at a hospital after paramedics responded to an emergency call from his home, the Huffington Post said. Murphy said everything at this point suggests that Schweich had committed suicide.
Schweich's wife was in another room and heard her husband making phone calls, but then she heard a gunshot, CNN reported. Hours earlier, Schweich had requested interviews at his home with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and The Associated Press.
Schweich wanted to set up an interview with a reporter because he wanted to publicly talk about the allegations that the head of the Missouri Republican Party had made anti-Semitic comments about him, the Huffington Post reported. The state GOP chairman has denied the allegations.
Schweich had called AP to set up a press conference where he would claim that Missouri Republican Party Chairman John Hancock made anti-Semitic comments about him. Schweich had said he was a Christian, but had Jewish ancestry on his father's side of the family. Schweich alleged that Hancock had made phone calls and mentioned in an off-handed way that Scweich was Jewish. Schweich felt the comments were anti-semitic and wanted Hancock to resign.
Scweich had been in office since January 2011 and said last month that he would run for governor against Catherine Hanaway, a former U.S. attorney and Missouri House speaker.
