*The family of Rasheem Carter, a Black man found decapitated in Mississippi last year, is alleging he was murdered after being followed by White men in trucks.
“What we have is a Mississippi lynching,” said famed civil rights Benjamin Crump, who is representing Carter’s family, at a news conference Monday, CNN reports.
According to the state medical examiner’s office, Carter’s body had been “dismembered,” and animals had scattered his remains. As such, a cause of death could not be determined, the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation said in a statement.
Crump is now calling on the US Department of Justice to open a federal investigation into Carter’s death. As it stands now, the office of Smith County Sheriff Joel Houston is reportedly leading the investigation.
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Rasheem Carter was found dead in Mississippi a month after he warned his mother that he was being chased by white men hurling racial slurs, the family demanded a federal investigation after local authorities said they had “no reason” to suspect foul play in his death. pic.twitter.com/Gex0MNlWeK
— ChudsOfTikTok (@ChudsOfTikTok) March 14, 2023
“To this date, we do not have evidence of foul play but everything is on the table,” Houston told CNN. “Until we turn over every stone, it’s still an open investigation.”
On the day he went missing (Oct. 2, 2022), Carter ran into a wooded area while holding a large branch, according to an image from a trail camera. The 25-year-old father of a 7-year-old girl reportedly contacted family members and said he was being chased by a group of white men in pickup trucks who hurled racist abuse at him.
Carter’s family believes he may have been targeted.
“My son told me there was three truckloads of White guys trying to kill him,” his mother, Tiffany Carter, reportedly said at a news conference on Monday.
Tiffany said she told her son to contact the police, but allegedly authorities refused to help him after he sought help.
We NEED a federal investigation into the killing of Rasheem Carter! An independent autopsy revealed his death was NOT due to natural causes! Rasheem was ignored after seeking help from police, and no progress has been made to find his killers — his family deserves justice! pic.twitter.com/ENbGEHCyHZ
— Ben Crump (@AttorneyCrump) March 15, 2023
According to Crump, someone attempted to use Carter’s credit card after he went missing.
“It shouldn’t have to be this difficult for this broken-hearted mother to get answers,” said Crump at the news conference.
“He was more than a son to me,” Tiffany said of her son. “He acted like my daddy, he acted like my best friend, my brother, my uncle. He was just a man that wanted to do what he had to do to make a difference in the lives of others.”
The grieving mother added, “And I just ask, I just ask that we get the justice that we need to get for my son,” she said. “And I ask that God continue to give me the strength to fight this battle, even though it’s challenging. I can’t give up.”
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