Darren Seals, an activist and protest leader during the Ferguson turmoil, was found dead in a burning car on Tuesday in Riverview, Missouri.
Police reported that Seals, 29, was found after the flames were put out and that he had also been shot, said the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Seals was active in protests against the police after the Michael Brown shooting in 2014 and was standing with Brown's mother, Lezley McSpadden, when it was announced that a St. Louis County grand jury would not indict Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson for shooting Brown.
The New York Times said Seals led protests with the group Hands Up United and started a campaign to use the upcoming political elections to address policing policies.
"We are working with potential witnesses and doing everything we can, the same as we do in every case," St. Louis County police spokesman Benjamin Granda told USA Today, adding that a homicide investigation has been started. "We need the community's help on this."
"(Seals) was a young man who cared deeply and passionately about his community," said Lizz Brown, a St. Louis-area attorney and political analyst,. "Whether he was paying for Christmas gifts for the kids in the neighborhood or organizing young people. He will be missed."
The St. Louis American described Seals as a "factory line worker and hip-hop musician" who was interviewed during the Ferguson protests by 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," said Mariah Stewart of the St. Louis American.
"Seals described himself on his Twitter profile as a 'Businessman, Revolutionary, Activist, Unapologetically BLACK, Afrikan in AmeriKKKa, Fighter, Leader,'" Stewart wrote.
In the days before his death, Seals expressed support for San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick in his protest during the national anthem of football games.
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