Top Ferguson activist found dead in burning car, police say

Seals, 29, of St. Louis, was found at about 2 a.m.in the city of Riverview, one of dozens of small communities that make up St. Louis’ predominantly black northern suburbs.

Police say a dead man found in a burned auto Tuesday morning had been shot. 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”.

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”.

Hours before Seals’ death, he posted on Twitter about Colin Kaepernick, a San Francisco 49ers National Football League quarterback who protested racial injustice and police brutality by declining to stand for the national anthem, and the US presidential election.

St Louis County Police said they investigated the incident as a homicide but have no suspects. I don’t think people will ever really appreciate what we did until years from now.

A woman who lives across the street told the station, “We were asleep and we heard this big, big boom”.

But activists seemed to put any conflict aside in mourning his death, including DeRay Mckesson, who had been one of the most prominent targets of Seals’ criticism. Police found a man dead from a gunshot wound in a burning auto early yesterday morning.

‘I didn’t realize how much he’d been doing until people started calling today, ‘ she said.

“We was marching hands up not concerning the cops/Next thing you know, them bitches started pointing their choppers/They wanted to trip quick and start turning it up, so that f***ing QuikTrip we got to burning it up”, he rhymed. “It’s time to send a message of our power”.

Seals remained active on social media until his death, most recently tweeting out his support for Colin Kaepernick’s stance on the National Anthem.

Representatives for Black Lives Matter did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.