Ferguson protester featured in iconic photo found dead of suspected suicide

FILE – In this Aug. 13, 2014, file photo, Edward Crawford Jr. throws a container of tear gas back at police officers during a protest against police in Ferguson, Mo., four days after a white police officer fatally shot unarmed black teenager Michael Brown. The photo was part of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Pulitzer Prize-winning photo coverage of the protests. Police said Thursday, May 4, 2017, that Crawford has died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. (Robert Cohen/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP, File)

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Police say a man featured in a famous photo taken during 2014 protests in Ferguson, Missouri, has died.

The St. Louis County medical examiner’s office says Edward Crawford Jr.’s death on Thursday was reported as a suspected suicide.

The August 2014 photo was taken during riots that erupted after a white police officer fatally shot 18-year-old Michael Brown, who was black and unarmed.

It shows Crawford throwing a smoking tear gas cylinder that’d been fired by police back toward the officers.

The photo was part of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Pulitzer Prize-winning photo coverage of the protests.

The newspaper reports police said two women driving with Crawford reported he shot himself Thursday after talking about being distraught over “personal matters.”

Crawford’s father believes the shooting was accidental. An official cause of death is pending an autopsy.

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Information from: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, http://www.stltoday.com