The family of a 19-year-old Black man are questioning official accounts of how he ended up shot to death during a party at the rural Missouri home of a middle-aged white man with a history of bigoted social media postings.
They don’t believe the findings of a preliminary investigation indicating that Derontae Martin took his own life inside the attic of that home – Martin was found dead in late April in Fredericktown in southeast Missouri.
Authorities have not said who owned the gun or how Martin got it, and The Missouri State Highway Patrol was asked to review the local investigation.
Sgt. Clark Parrott says the patrol concurred with the initial finding of suicide, though additional witnesses are still being sought.
