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Demartravion \u201cTrey\u201d Reed was a 21-year-old student at the Mississippi institution.<\/span><\/p>\n Andrew Caballero-Reynolds\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Delta State University has been rocked by the discovery of a Black student\u2019s body hanging from a tree in the middle of campus on Monday.<\/p>\n Demartravion \u201cTrey\u201d Reed was a 21-year-old student at the Mississippi institution. Recalling a long, painful history of lynchings, his death has spurred an outpouring of grief and anger across the country. <\/p>\n The Bolivar County Coroner\u2019s Office said on Monday that a preliminary examination of Reed\u2019s body showed no evidence of foul play, including \u201cany lacerations, contusions, compound fractures, broken bones or injuries consistent with an assault.\u201d <\/p>\n But Reed\u2019s family members are calling for their own investigation, including an independent autopsy, and have demanded access to video footage that might reveal more details of his death.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom the beginning, the family has been seeking transparency in this investigation,\u201d Vanessa J. Jones, an attorney representing the family, told Inside Higher Ed<\/em>. \u201cEspecially after a tragic incident like this occurs, and you\u2019re dealing with a state that has a past history which includes a painful history of racial violence\u00a0\u2026 transparency is paramount.\u201d<\/p>\n The Reed family\u2019s distrust in the handling of the student\u2019s death was deepened when officials allowed his mother to view her son\u2019s body from the neck up only, Jones said. <\/p>\n Officers also shared conflicting details of Reed\u2019s death when they first spoke to his family, Jones said. According to Jones, the Grenada County Sheriff\u2019s Department went to Reed\u2019s grandfather\u2019s home on Monday and said Reed was found dead in his dorm room \u201cfrom an apparent suicide.\u201d <\/p>\n Prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump has taken on the family\u2019s case and said in a post on X that he will lead a team of civil rights leaders and organizers in \u201cpursuing transparency for Trey\u2019s family.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cWe cannot accept vague conclusions when so many questions remain,\u201d he wrote. Crump described Reed as a \u201cyoung man full of promise and warmth, deeply loved and respected by all who knew him.\u201d<\/p>\n Lawmakers are also demanding more information.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll never have true justice for Trey, because that would mean he would still be with us\u2014but there must be answers,\u201d Massachusetts representative Ayanna Pressley wrote on X.<\/p>\n Mississippi representative Bennie G. Thompson called for a federal investigation into Reed\u2019s death. <\/p>\n \u201cIt is always a tragedy when a young life is cut short,\u201d Thompson said in a statement. \u201cWe must leave no stone unturned in the search for answers. While the details of this case are still emerging, we cannot ignore Mississippi\u2019s painful history of lynching and racial violence against African Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n At a press conference Wednesday, Delta State University president Daniel J. Ennis said Reed\u2019s loss was \u201cdevastating\u201d and \u201cthe manner of how Trey was discovered has stirred many emotions in this community and many emotions around the state and the nation.\u201d<\/p>\n Ennis reiterated the coroner\u2019s early conclusions but said he recognized the psychological impact of Reed\u2019s death. \u201cThis is not only about facts,\u201d Ennis said. \u201cIt\u2019s about emotions and it\u2019s about feelings and the way this loss and how it was discovered affects people\u2019s lives.\u201d<\/p>\n Ennis, who is white, said he acknowledged his weakness in not being \u201cadequate to speak to the imagery that this incident raises.\u201d<\/p>\n Delta State serves roughly 2,800 students, about 40\u00a0percent of whom are Black. Ennis said the campus has been receiving threatening phone calls and messages since Reed\u2019s death.<\/p>\n \u201cI can say that my heartbreak is comprehensive, not just for Trey\u2014although it is primarily for Trey\u2014but for the fact that the rest of the world has an impression of Delta State that is so at odds with what I know to be this institution,\u201d which is \u201cthe joy and the grace of people living and working together and respecting each other,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n Mike Peeler, Delta State University chief of police, told the press that Reed\u2019s body was transported to the Mississippi State Medical Examiner\u2019s Office for a full autopsy on Wednesday morning. Authorities expect preliminary autopsy results within 24 to 48 hours. He said DSU Police, the Cleveland Police Department, the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation and the Bolivar County Sheriff\u2019s Office planned to update the public on the findings after first meeting with Reed\u2019s next of kin.<\/p>\n He told reporters law enforcement officials were reviewing relevant video, but he couldn\u2019t offer any more details. Peeler also said he had no information about Reed\u2019s family being told his death took place in his dorm room. <\/p>\n He emphasized during the press conference that \u201cthis is an isolated incident\u201d and \u201cthere are currently no active threats to the campus,\u201d which \u201cremains a safe environment for students, faculty and staff.\u201d <\/p>\n Nonetheless, the grisly incident has frightened Black students on campus.<\/p>\n \u201cHearing that happened to another Black student, it really makes me feel unsafe,” a Delta State student, Stacie Hoskins, told WAPT16.<\/p>\n The nature of Reed\u2019s death has had an emotional impact on Black students on other campuses as well; some treated it as a foregone conclusion that Reed was killed and issued statements of support to fellow students. <\/p>\n The Black Student Union at Illinois State University directed students to campus counseling resources, and its executive board said it was \u201cheartbroken by the tragic loss of Trey Reed, whose life was cut short by a horrific act of violence.\u201d <\/p>\n North Carolina A&T University\u2019s NAACP chapter posted on Instagram that Reed \u201ccould have been any of us. Any Black student. Any campus.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOur education is under attack. Our sanity is under attack. Our very existence is under attack,\u201d the chapter said. \u201cWe refuse to stay silent. Black lives matter. Black students matter. Always.\u201d<\/p>\nUpdates From the University<\/h2>\n
\u2018Heartbroken\u2019 Students<\/h2>\n