La. mayor's death sparks controversy (ruled suicide)

[keopeli]

This is an update to the investigation into the death of Gerald Washington, the first African-American Mayor-elect of Westlake, LA. In the original story, the sheriff said it was being treated as a homicide.

Seattle Times/AP

***
But by 10 p.m. Gerald "Wash" Washington was dead in the deserted parking lot of a former high school, a bullet wound in his chest. His gun was found by the body.

The coroner and the sheriff have pronounced Washington's death a suicide - a finding that has embroiled this oil-refinery town in conspiracy theories, with Washington's kin and friends insisting he had no reason to end his life.

***

Washington's son, Geroski, accused the sheriff's office of doing a sloppy job, and asked the state police to take over the investigation.

State police entered the case earlier this week and took the body to Baton Rouge for another autopsy. The state police said it is interviewing friends of Washington's family, but it would not otherwise comment on the investigation.

[ixion]

1. a gun shot wound to the chest for a suicide is very unusual

and really doesn't make sense. Why the chest? So you can sit there and watch yourself bleed to death? It makes no sense to me at all.

[POAS]

2. Pure speculation on my part

Washington is confronted in the parking lot, pulls his gun to protect himself and in a struggle he is disarmed and shot by his assailant.

Like I said, pure speculation but no less speculative than suicide IMHO.

[ixion]

3. that scenario make more sense to me

than a suicide, by far.

Another one would be that the gun was fired into his chest while he was unconscious.

While a suicide isn't out of the question, I think it's the least likely scenario.

Just speculation on my part, as well. :-)

[tom_paine]

4. The latest in a string of nonsensical "suicide" pronouncements

Including the Democratic activist who recently "threw himself" off a tall building and MANY others.

I no longer question whether or not I believe that AT LEAST 50% of these "suicides" are no such thing (slightly possible that ALL of them are fabrications), but I wonder if this sort of thing has always been going on. I mean that murder is frequently covered up with the help of complicit police to protect the weathy republican (and perhaps democrats, too) and an individual is tarred post-mortem with the idea that they offed themselves.

Has it ALWAYS been this way and I am just noticing it?

Or has the commensurate wave of reeking corruption that has overtaken America's ruling class "trickled down" in the form of increased corruption at the state and local level?

Unknown. But I do know one thing: Clearly the fake suicide, as a method of murdering one's enemies, is currently in vogue and getting more popular by the minute.

I wonder which wealthy Bushevik whacked the mayor. The town would almost certainly never do thi for a Filthy Little Nobody.

But it's all speculation in the end.

RIP, Mr. Washington, and I will pray that your killer is found, even though it looks like he's already gotten away with murder.

[EST]

5. Men who commit suicide by gunshot nearly always shoot

themselves in the head, with a mouth shot chosen slightly more often that a temple shot.

Women, on the other hand, choose to suicide by a chest shot. It is generally speculated that women are more conscious of beauty and find the notion of screwing up their heads, mouths or faces quite distasteful.

This information is pretty old-as am I- so things may have changed, but if they have, I've not heard of it.

I heard that the gun had no fingerprints on it. If so, maybe he shot himself in the body so he'd have time to wipe the gun clean, thus implicating someone else.:sarcasm:

[lindisfarne]

10. Thus, Washington had a deep desire to be a woman. Or so the Repugs would explain. n/t

[Ian David]

6. Deffinitely NOT a suicide

<snip>

About noon, he set City Hall's alarm system for the first time. He got instructions on how to raise and lower the U.S. flag. He had already ordered a new mayoral letterhead with his name on it and a button-down shirt embroidered "Gerald Washington, Mayor."

A few hours later he indulged in a hobby, placing a $4 bet at a nearby horse racing track.

But by 10 p.m. Gerald "Wash" Washington was dead in the deserted parking lot of a former high school, a bullet wound in his chest. His gun was found by the body.

---

[Viva_La_Revolution]

7. people who are going to off themselves don't order new letterhead

imho

[entanglement]

8. Considering that he was the first Black mayor of that town, there's a possibility

that this was a racist homicide.

[jollyreaper2112]

9. well, I think we can settle some questions first

Did the bullet come from his weapon or not? If not, it was murder.

If the bullet did come from his weapon, where was the weapon when it fired? Was the weapon held in a fashion consistent with a self-inflicted gunshot wound? Were there powder burns on his shirt? Did it appear to be a deliberate shot or the product of a struggle for the weapon?

In general, I know that some potentially suicidal people are capable of putting up some good masks, faking it right up until the end. Warning signs can be only visible in hindsight. Other potential suicides give off every sign in the world and either people are too thick to see them or nobody was looking. But you can also get some WEIRD fucking suicides, probably medicine-related. I forget who told me about this one but it was a brother who had ordered a delivery meal and was dead by suicide before it arrived. It was a genuine suicide. You also hear a lot of these strange things from teens on meds. Sometimes you can fish out the full story after looking things over. Attractive, successful young student, blah-blah-blah, then you find out that they didn't get into a top school or are reacting poorly to the stresses of having to be perfect for everyone. They keep the happy mask on right until the end. Or you can have overly emotional people who get hit with something nasty and then freak out in a permanent fashion. There was a student who jumped off a university dorm in New York a year or so back. Her final plunge was photographed by someone outside the building, just happened to be there taking photos when she went over. She had just broken up with her boyfriend in the same building and overreacted. If somebody had managed to tackle her on the roof, an hour later she'd probably still feel devastated but not like jumping. But she jumped and that, as they say, is that.

But back to the case at hand, it still seems mighty suspicious. I'm not a suicide expert but I don't recall hearing as much about random impulse suicides in older people. Teens and young adults seem to be impulsive but there's usually a better "reason" for adults. There was a high-ranking admiral years back who was getting hounded by that Hackett guy over medals he was improperly wearing. The real story is that it was an innocent mistake over combat ribbons but it was made out to sound like he was sporting a fake medal of honor or something. So he ended up killing himself on his front porch before the final interview. Come to think of it, I think he was one who shot himself in the chest.

There was another anti-Bush guy who was ruled a suicide by gun. He shot himself in the head twice to get it right. Now I know it's possible to get it wrong when shooting yourself, causing a maiming injury but not getting it fatal. But it still sounds suspicious. It's like the joke news report "Police find body in woods dismembered, wrapped and buried in separate graves. Police suspect foul play." Well, it would have been a doozy of a suicide!

[lindisfarne]

11. Seems to me this is the kind of situation the FBI usually gets involved in ... is that happening? nt

[pitohui]

12. the state police have been invited to investigate and are doing so

the others commenting on the thread seem unaware that washington appears to have been an extremely well-liked and respected member of the community and had previously served many years on the city council before being overwhelmingly elected to the mayor's office

coroner and sheriff advised the family to invite the state police to investigate if they are not satisfied, and state police are not commenting until they have gotten further w. their investigation

at this time i am not seeing any jurisdiction for the fbi, of course this changes if the state police does identify a conspiracy that involves a federal crime (depriving washington of his civil rights, environmental violations being covered up, etc.)

this is a factory town, with the huge conoco-philips plant and many other plants lighting up the night sky

if there is some conspiracy i might look in that direction

right now anything any of us can say appears to be pure, undilute speculation

agree this one troubles me and doesn't pass the "smell" test but time will tell, often the natural reaction to suicide is "this can't be, he had everything to live for" so i'm having trouble sorting out this reaction from what very few facts we have

[Pavulon]

13. Occam's Explanation

he wanted an open casket. This is very common in southern African American culture. The viewing before burial.

If you put a pistol in your mouth it will blow the top of your head (or at least a good chunk of it) off and make a big mess. Thus no open casket.

If the guy has gun powder residue on his hands and was in a locked car he shot himself.

The alternative, he was subdued with a dart with fentanyl (most people fight if you try to disarm and shoot them) and then shot with his own weapon by a one armed man.

All shooting deaths are initially treated as homicide, at least here they are.

[slowry]

15. Yet...

... I don't see any mention of gun residue anywhere, and where did you hear he was locked in his car, or in his car at all?

On Saturday night, Washington's body was found near his truck in the parking lot of his former high school in Westlake, La., 130 miles west of Baton Rouge. He had been shot once in the chest, and police said they found a gun lying a few feet from his body.

He was found laying on his back in a parking lot, his left hand bloodied, according to his son, who was shown a number of crime scene photographs (his father was right-handed). Weird place to kill yourself -- especially if, by all accounts, you aren't by any means suicidal.

[pitohui]

16. your facts are not entirely correct ,pavulon, to pick a nit

he was not in a locked truck, he was in the parking lot

you may be right, and it may be a suicide, it's human for us to be in denial about a death when a man has this much to live for, but i will be interested in what the state police have to say

it did occur to me that a good reason to shoot oneself in a parking lot would be so that your family would not find you and you would not leave a mess in house or car for your family to have to clean up

[Nevernose]

19. Occam's explanation of Occam's explanation

I've been to an open casket funeral of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. They reconstruct the back of the head, then fluff the pillows up around the side. The mayor might not have known this, granted, but still interesting.

If, as was suggested in post #2, there was a struggle and he was killed with his own gun, if his hands were close to the gun as it fired (say, trying to fend off the attacker by grabbing his hands and wrists), then there would be powder residue on his hands. Of course, there was apparently no mention of residue in the coroner's report.

The killer could have locked the door on the way out. Of course, that's irrelevant, because he was found near his truck, not in it.

From a different news source:Handgun soot "on the wound and in the depths of the wound" indicates that the gun barrel was touching Gerald "Wash" Washington's torso when it went off, said Dr. Terry Welke, the coroner. http://www.katc.com/Global/story.asp?S=5881941

That one fact -- that there was soot on and in the wound -- is being used to determine that it was a suicide, when it only proves that the gun was extremely close when it fired.

Of course it could just as likely be a suicide as a homicide, but it doesn't look like there's real evidence either way. To be on the safe side, why don't the police, local or state, conduct an investigation?

[pitohui]

20. the state police IS conducting an investigation

you ask -- To be on the safe side, why don't the police, local or state, conduct an investigation?



the state police has agreed to investigate, the local police has closed their investigation and upon informing the family that the finding would be suicide the sheriff and coroner suggested the family invite the state police to check their results

locals may feel they are out of their depth, or they may feel suicide is the true answer but they want the family to have another authority look into it, so they will have closure and certainty

in any case, this thing ain't over yet as the state police have agreed to investigate

[MadMaddie]

14. It seems they performed the autopsy rather quickly...this is a case

that needs to be investigated by the Feds....

[pitohui]

21. how long does it normally take to perform an autopsy? EOM

,

[MadMaddie]

22. It depends on the manner of death...I am no expert...but

in the past we have seen autopsy results take weeks not a matter of days...in some cases it seems that cases have been closed quickly only to be reopened by the Feds or some other agency...

The fact that this death is questionable..raises red flags...especially in the part of the country it happened...murder is more likely...

[Richard Steele]

17. "Suicide" my shiny metal ASS!

And that's all I have to say about that.

[donheld]

18. As Judge Judy would say If it doesn't make sense

it tsn't true. This suicide crap makes as much sense as a hog on rollerskates.

[Travis McGee]

23. It's all speculation

Sadly right now nobody really knows. Sure it could be racially motivated but it also could as easily be over money or a woman or a hundred other things. Heck we don't even know if the shooter was white. And yes sadly it could be self inflicted. None of this changes the fact that a man that was respected enough by his community to be elected mayor is now tragically dead.