FBI Looks at Black Teen’s Hanging Death

The death of 17-year-old Lennon Lacy, who was found hanging from a dog leash and belt in August in North Carolina, is now being investigated by the FBI, according to a prosecutor. Lacy was found Aug. 29 hanging from a swing set at a trailer park in the town of Bladenboro, his body hanging two inches off the ground. The state medical examiner initially ruled the death a suicide, but the boy’s family and the North Carolina chapter of the NAACP questioned the ruling, saying there are too many unanswered questions. “When I saw him, I just knew automatically he didn’t do that to himself,” the boy’s mother, Claudia Lacy, told the Associated Press this week. “Seventeen years old—he had no reason to. I know my child. As a mother, I would have sensed if something was wrong to the point that he was going to harm himself.” Lacy also says that the last time she saw her son, he was getting ready to play a Friday night high-school football game.