[NBC] Edward Crawford, a St. Louis resident who was the subject of an iconic photo epitomizing the 2014 protests in Ferguson, Missouri, is dead.Crawford was photographed throwing a flaming tear gas canister in an image broadcast widely during the months of unrest that followed the fatal shooting of Michael Brown Jr. by a police officer.
His death was confirmed to NBC News by the St. Louis Office of the Medical Examiner. Investigator Rose Psara said Crawford was pronounced deceased shortly before midnight on Thursday at 1435 Salisbury Street in the Hyde Park neighborhood.
The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department told NBC News that Crawford shot himself in the backseat of a car while it was moving, according to two witnesses who were seated in the front of the car.
"The victim began expressing he was distraught over personal matters to the witnesses," said the police department's Public Information Officer Leah Freeman. "The witnesses heard the victim rummaging in the backseat, then heard a gunshot and observed the victim had sustained a gunshot wound to the head."
Crawford was pronounced dead on the scene. Police said an investigation is ongoing and, while initially declared a suicide, the official cause of death will be determined by an autopsy.