police officer

Protester in Iconic Ferguson Photo Found Dead: Report

The photo that featured Edward Crawford became an iconic image of the frustration protesters felt toward Ferguson police and criminal justice system

A man featured in an iconic photo from the Ferguson, Missouri, protests in 2014 was found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound in St. Louis overnight, his family told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Edward Crawford, 27, was pictured in an American flag shirt, tossing a tear gas cylinder that had been fired at protesters during the uprisings in the city after the shooting death of teenager Michael Brown by a police officer. 

Crawford's father told the Post-Dispatch that he and Crawford's mother identified their son at a morgue Friday.

Crawford was in a car with two women in the Hyde Park neighborhood when he shot himself, according to the report.

Crawford's father told the paper that the gunshot wound is self-inflicted, but he believes his son may have accidentally shot himself.

"I don't believe it was a suicide," he said. 

Police also confirmed the shooting, but would not identify the victim, according to the report. 

The photo that featured Crawford became an iconic image of the uprisings and the frustration protesters felt toward Ferguson police and criminal justice system. It was taken by Robert Cohen, a photographer from the Post-Dispatch and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for breaking news photography. 

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