Ferguson Activist Edward Crawford From Iconic Photo Found Dead

Edward Crawford, 27, a Ferguson, Mo., protester and activist, was found in his car dead from a gunshot wound.

Reports are not clear on whether the shooting took place Thursday night or early Friday morning. Police investigators are calling it self-inflicted, but they say they have not yet determined whether they believe it to have been intentional.

According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

The police version of events has not been independently confirmed.

Crawford instantly became an icon of the Movement for Black Lives when a photo emerged of him throwing a tear gas canister back toward police officers during the 2014 protests following the extrajudicial killing of Michael Brown Jr. by Police Officer Darren Wilson.

The photo was taken by St. Louis Post-Dispatch photographer Robert Cohen.

Those on the side of justice—and against the hypermilitarization of police—applauded the act of resistance. In a 2014 interview with CNN, Crawford said that his instinct was to get the weapon away from children.

“I don’t believe it was a suicide,” Crawford Sr. said of his son’s death. “They’re being hush-hush.

“He was wonderful, great, always in a good mood,” he continued. “He just got a new apartment and was training for a new job.”