Editor’s note: This story contains reporting about suicide, a topic that will be disturbing to some readers. If you are having thoughts of suicide or other mental health struggles, call or text 988 for a 24/7 hotline. Call 988-PEERS-NC for the North Carolina peers warmline to talk to someone with experience with substance abuse and mental health concerns.
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Raleigh officials Monday afternoon will address the death of a man found hanging from a tree in downtown Saturday afternoon.
Police Chief Rico Boyce and Mayor Janet Cowell will give an update on the ongoing investigation at 3 p.m. Monday. Police have said they are treating the death as a suicide investigation but some local residents have said they fear the killing may have been racially motivated.
The press conference comes after police found a Black man hanging from a tree in a parking lot on South McDowell Street across the street from Nash Square.
The Raleigh Police Department said in a news release Saturday night they were treating the death as a suicide investigation and that there was no indication of foul play, The News & Observer previously reported.
The man, whose name has not been released, was pronounced dead at the scene.
But in the days since the death, a number of locals have challenged whether the case should be treated as a suicide.
“There are so many cameras that view all of this,” resident Lenny Cheatham said at the scene Monday morning. “You should be able to see something that happened in the daytime. There’s no excuse to say ‘We’ve got to investigate.’ What are you investigating?”
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The case comes as multiple hanging deaths involving Black people have occurred across southern states in recent years — with at least three others occurring in North Carolina since 2024.
In May, a young Black girl was found hanging in a churchyard in Charlotte. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department concluded that she died by suicide. But the case sparked outcries on social media amid silence from local authorities on how they had investigated the case.
“When a Black person is found hanging from a tree in the American South, authorities cannot reasonably expect the Black community to hear the word ‘suicide’ and stop asking questions,” the A. Philip Randolph Institute — a national labor and civil rights organization — wrote in a statement. “Not with this history. And certainly not now.”
Community members in Raleigh erected a small memorial at the base of the tree where the man was found Saturday, with several votive candles and a display of flowers sitting on the ground. Several people came to visit the scene through the weekend, some to investigate for themselves.
As of Monday morning, the Police Department told The N&O it had no updates on the investigation.
“We understand that this loss may be deeply painful for those who knew and cared about the individual,” Saturday night’s news release stated. “We ask everyone to please be mindful of the family and friends who are grieving and to avoid sharing unverified information or speculation while investigators continue their work.
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This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.
This story was originally published August 17, 2026 at 2:19 PM.