An activist who helped lead protests against police brutality in Ferguson, Missouri, following the 2014 death of Michael Brown Jr. was found fatally shot inside a burning auto this week in nearby North St. Louis County.
Officers responded to a call around 2 a.m Tuesday about a vehicle fire in Riverview, according to a statement from the police.
DeAndre Joshua, 20, was also found dead in a torched auto in November 2014, the morning after a grand jury decision announcing they would not indict the Ferguson police officer who killed Michael Brown.
The death of Seals, which the St. Louis Bureau of Crimes Against Persons is investigating as a homicide, has sparked an outpouring of condolences from his community and suspicion about who killed him, with many speculating police officer involvement.
Seals, 29, was a factory line worker and hip-hop artist, according to the St. Louis American, but these are the words he used to describe himself in his Twitter profile: "businessman, revolutionary, activist, unapologetically BLACK, Afrikan in AmeriKKKa, fighter, leader". Police did not name any suspects or suggest a motive in Seals' death. The investigation was ongoing.
Seals was extremely vocal about issues surrounding Brown's death and the St. Louis region. The man was later identified as 29-year-old, Seals.
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Joshua, 20, was also found shot dead in a burning vehicle on the night that St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch announced that a grand jury had declined to indict Officer Darren Wilson for shooting Brown.
"For Mike Brown's mother to be right there in my arms crying-she literally cried in my arms-it was like I felt her soul crying". "I don't think people will ever really appreciate what we did until years from now".
'It wasn't even a protest yet, ' Seals told the Nation.
"The @NFL mad about #Kaepernick protest but I bet they don't turn down all the money from them jersey sales", Seals tweeted Monday. It was a black boy being shot in the community. "We did not always agree, but he should be alive today".
The phrase Black Lives Matter first received national attention in summer 2014 and, since then, has become part of conversations on race in America.
