Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Somebody Call Dave Robicheaux

La. mayor-elect's death ruled suicide: WESTLAKE, La. - Relatives of the town's first black mayor-elect, found shot to death three days before he was to take office, called for a state police investigation after the local coroner ruled his death a suicide.
Gerald Washington's body was found Saturday night in the parking lot of his former high school. He had been shot once in the chest, and a pistol was nearby, investigators said.
The Calcasieu Parish coroner and sheriff said Tuesday that their investigations had determined the 57-year-old former refinery worker and councilman had committed suicide.
There was no immediate indication of a motive, and no suicide note was found, but the handgun soot 'on the wound and in the depths of the wound' indicates that the gun barrel was touching Washington's torso when it went off, said Dr. Terry Welke, the coroner. 'That is what is usually seen in a self-inflicted gunshot wound,' he said.

Or, you know, somebody else jamming the gun against your body when they pull the trigger.

The mayor-elect's family did not accept the results, and asked for a state police investigation, Sheriff Tony Mancuso said.

Ya think?

'It is always hard for family members to believe a loved one caused their own death, and it was no different for the Washington family,' Mancuso said. 'When I met with them yesterday, I offered to turn this investigation over to the state police.

At that time, they indicated it was not necessary. However, this morning, they called to request that state police handle the investigation."

Let's see, black man in Louisiana with apparently everything to live for "shoots himself" for no apparent reason. Nope, nothing at all suspicious about that, move along, nothing to see here....

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