Darren Seals, 29, a Ferguson, Missouri, protester and activist who rose to prominence in the wake of the 2014 extrajudicial killing of Michael Brown Jr. by Police Officer Darren Wilson, was found dead in the early hours of Tuesday morning in North St. Louis County, STLAmerican.com reports.
According to police investigators, Seals was shot before he was placed in a car that was then set on fire.
R. I.P. King D Seals, Darren @KingDSeals one of the day one #Ferguson protesters. The children will miss you.
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Seals was extremely vocal about issues surrounding Brown’s death and the St. Louis region. He was featured in national news outlets such as The Washington Post and Al Jazeera.
Seals recently uploaded a Facebook Live video sharing his own encounter with the Ferguson Police Department, saying police drew guns on him and his younger brother. Seals described himself on his Twitter profile as a “Businessman, Revolutionary, Activist, Unapologetically BLACK, Afrikan in AmeriKKKa, Fighter, Leader.”
Condolences and speculations surrounding Seals’ death have flooded the timelines of the Ferguson and social-justice communities.
Don’t wait until I die. Give me my flowers while I can still smell em pic.twitter.com/tjuQoBzSXe
This is the second time in less than two years that a young black man with some connection with the Ferguson uprising has been found dead inside of a car after being shot and set on fire.
In November 2014, during the protests that followed a grand jury’s refusal to indict Wilson in Brown’s shooting death, DeAndre Joshua, 20, was found shot once in the head inside of a burning car. Bloodied glass was discovered on the ground beside his white Pontiac Grand Prix right next to Canfield Green Apartments where Michael Brown Jr. was slain.
At the time of Joshua’s death, his grandmother Renita Towns had little hope that their family would receive justice. “Police don’t care—he’s black,” she said at the time.
There have been no arrests in Joshua’s case.
The St. Louis County Police Department asks that the public contact them at (314) 615-5400 or CrimeStoppers at (866) 371-8477 with any information regarding the incident.
