Malcolm Harsch was a 38 year old black man found hanging from a tree in Victorville, California near Victorville City Library on May 31, 2020 around 7 A.M. His death is getting little to no news coverage by local news, the article on his death was published 2 weeks later on June 13th, and San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said foul play is not suspected in his death. During such a heightened time with the Black Lives Matter movement, there is reason to believe that Malcolm’s death was a lynching. His family has said in a released statement "his cause of death has not been released to the family yet but we are concerned that his death will be labeled as a suicide, as this is what was communicated to us upon confirmation of his death on the morning of June 1st. Amidst the current racial tension and following the protesting the night prior to his body being discovered we were truly troubled to learn of his passing particularly of how his body was discovered. He is an African-American man whose body was found hanging from a tree! The deputy who called to confirm his death asked questions about drug or alcohol use, he made a statement about how the coronavirus has “hit people really hard” and said that a USB cord was used to hang himself". Furthermore, despite the investigation being active, the Sheriff's department stating that there is no suspected foul play, doesn't seem plausible as the family has stated, "As most of us are in Ohio, we weren’t able to physically go to the location where he was found dead but did speak to a few people who were around at the time of the discovery. We were told that his 6 foot 3 inches long body wasn’t even dangling from the tree. There was blood on his shirt but there didn’t appear to be any physical implications at the scene to suggest that there was a struggle or any visible open wounds at that time. His body sat at the San Bernardino County Coroner for 12 days before an autopsy was performed. We understand that Victorville is a small city and have been reminded regularly that San Bernardino is very busy (as if we aren’t patient enough for necessary answers) but feel that our brother’s death will be waived off as a suicide to avoid any further media attention. Malcolm had very recent conversations with his children about seeing them soon. He didn’t seem to be depressed to anyone who truly knew him. EVERYONE who knew our brother was shocked to hear that he allegedly hung himself and don’t believe it to be true as well as the people who were there when his body was discovered. The explanation of suicide does not seem plausible."

We demand the San Bernardino's County Sheriff’s Department, and the Cities of Victorville and San Bernardino to conduct a full, thorough investigation into Malcom's death. We demand justice to be served for Malcolm and his loved ones.

For more information read the full article at vvng.com