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WESTLAKE, La. - The first black mayor-elect in a largely white Louisiana town committed suicide days before he was to take office, the coroner said Tuesday.

The body of Gerald "Wash" Washington, 57, was found Saturday night in the parking lot of a former high school with a pistol nearby. He had been shot once in the chest, investigators said.

The death was ruled a suicide Tuesday. The Calcasieu Parish Sheriff's Office said it was asking Louisiana State Police to investigate the death, and a motivation wasn't immediately known.

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It is odd that someone commits suicide by shooting himself in the chest. The head is thought to be more certain, as well as easier to point at. And many suicides don't do it in the parking lot, either.

Put the gun up to the man's chest, pull the trigger, put the gun down next to the man.

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Especially if the police and the residents of the town are largely racist and aren't overly motivated to find evidence otherwise.

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It's a very common occurrence in US police history.

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I get the impression that we laypersons are kind of tricked by shows like CSI and ME crime novels into believing that all crime investigations are totally top notch, with every detail examined.

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Just look at the botched CSIS/RCMP investigation into the Air India tragedy; the repeated hiding of evidence into RCMP misconduct in Alberta and Quebec against unions and striking or locked out workers; the total screw-ups in the Dudley George murder in Ontario; the sloppiness in the 50 killed/disappeared prostitutes in Vancouver's downtown east side, etc.