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A North Carolina police department is investigating the apparent hanging death of a Black man, but authorities say they have not yet determined how he died.
Demetrius Fleming, 38, was found dead Friday (August 21) at a home on Roanoke Avenue in Roanoke Rapids, WRAL reported. Roanoke Rapids Police Chief Lawrence Wiggins said Fleming was already dead when emergency crews arrived and was found “connected to a ligature.” Authorities have not disclosed what type of ligature was involved.
The 911 call that brought officers to the home reported an attempted suicide, but Wiggins said the caller was not at the scene and was someone close to Fleming.“We're treating this as an open, equivocal death investigation,” Wiggins said, according to WRAL.
“The Roanoke Rapids Police Department is committed to finding the facts and reporting them.”
Wiggins urged people not to treat speculation as fact while the investigation is still in its early stages.
“We are aware of, and acknowledge, the implications surrounding the death of a Black male due to a hanging,” Wiggins said, adding, “The evidence will provide the conclusion; anything else will create more confusion.”
Fleming’s death came six days after another Black man — who has not been publicly named — was found hanging from a tree in downtown Raleigh on August 15, BIN previously reported. The Raleigh Police Department said the death is being investigated as a suicide, and the investigation remains ongoing.
Police have not indicated that the two deaths are connected.
“We are not working from any strict assumption,” Wiggins said of Fleming’s death. “Everything is on the table.”
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