Darren Seals, 29

Saint Louis, Missouri
September 06, 2016

Agencies: Unspecified

Cause of death: Shooting


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Last updated: almost 6 years ago

Overview

Darren Seals was found about 1:50 a.m. in the 9600 block of Diamond Drive in Riverview, St. Louis County Police told the St. Louis American. He suffered a gunshot wound before the vehicle was set on fire, according to police.

The shooting remains under investigation and no suspects are in custody, police said. No information about possible suspects or a motive were released.

The car was still on fire when police found it, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The flames had to be extinguished before Seals’ body was found, the newspaper reports.

The St. Louis County Police’s Bureau of Crimes Against Persons and its Bomb and Arson Unit are investigating.

Darren Seals, 29, was a factory line worker and hip-hop musician. Following the death of Mike Brown – an unarmed black teenager who was fatally shot by a white Ferguson police officer – Seals protested in the streets of Ferguson.

Seals was extremely vocal about issues surrounding Brown’s death and the St. Louis region. He was featured in national news outlets such as The Washington Post and Al Jazeera.

Seals recently uploaded a Facebook Live video sharing his own encounter with the Ferguson Police Department, saying police drew guns on him and his younger brother. Seals described himself on his Twitter profile as a “Businessman, Revolutionary, Activist, Unapologetically BLACK, Afrikan in AmeriKKKa, Fighter, Leader.”

Fellow activists took to social media to mourn his loss. Ashley Yates, an activist who protested in Ferguson, wrote “Darren King D Seals stood for Mike Brown and is and will always be a part of my Ferguson family. Rest in power, D.”

Carlos Ball, the brother of Cary Ball Jr., who was killed by St. Louis Police in 2013, replaced his Facebook profile picture with Seals’ profile picture, which was taken as part of the portrait series This is the Movement.

According to the St. Louis County Police Department, at approximately 1:50 a.m. on September 6, its Bureau of Crimes Against Persons and Bomb and Arson Unit were requested to assist the City of Riverview for a vehicle fire in the 9600 block of Diamond Drive.

Police say their investigation revealed that Seals suffered a gunshot wound before the car was set on fire. The incident is currently being investigated as a homicide.

Legal Action

September 2016 Crime scene careless with bulletcasings littering the ground after police left the parkinglot

Community and Family Efforts

September 2016 Video from three months before his death.

September 2016 Armed protesters marched through the Central West End neighborhood on Sunday in a show of force following last week's murder of Ferguson activist Darren Seals.

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