A Mississippi attorney apologized for sharing a photo of a Black man hanging from a tree without consulting the deceased man’s family or law enforcement.
Carlos Moore posted a picture of the corpse on his Facebook page on Tuesday night as a call-to-action, according to The Clarion Ledger. He identified the man by name, used the name in a hashtag and called for justice and a thorough investigation. The picture was shared over 2000 times and Moore also shared them on Twitter.
Moore vowed to keep the photos up until a “blood relative” requested deletion.
"If death by hanging was across the board, why don't you see it with white people and Hispanic people," he said. "I only see black men dying by hanging."
The body was discovered by passersby in Columbus, MS, about 100 miles away from Grenada, the location of Moore’s law firm.
The Columbus Police Department eventually ruled the death a suicide.
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“Regarding the death investigation of an African-American male found Sunday, May 5, 2019, in the afternoon near the Luxapilila Creek, the Columbus Police Department has found no evidence indicative of a homicide,” the department said in a statement. “The investigation is still ongoing. Lowndes County Coroner Greg Merchant has ordered an autopsy. No other details on this case will be released by the Columbus Police Department.”
Moore issued an apology via Facebook on Thursday and the photos were deleted.
"In hindsight that was not the right thing to do and I apologize to the family for being insensitive even though I only wanted to help avoid the issue being swept under the rug,” he wrote.
When asked if he spoke to the dead man’s family, Moore stated the Facebook apology was his mea culpa.
"The same mechanism which I posted (the apology) is the same mechanism which I reached out to them," he said.
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