WASHINGTON Edward Crawford the man featured clad in the American flag and holding a bag of chips as he hurled a flaming tear gas canister in what became the iconic image of the 2014 unrest in Ferguson, Missouri was found dead in St. Louis on Thursday.

The medical examiners office said Crawfords death appeared to be a suicide, according to the St. Louis Police Department. Two people told police they had been driving with Crawford late Thursday evening when he started to talk about being distraught over personal matters. They then heard him rummaging in the backseat and heard a gunshot, then saw hed sustained a gunshot wound to the head, according to the police report. Crawfords father told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch he did not believe his son took his own life.

Crawford, a father of four who would have turned 28 later this month, was still facing charges in St. Louis County Municipal Court over his actions on a summer night in Ferguson in August 2014. He participated in protests against the broken policing system in the St. Louis region following the death of 18-year-old Michael Brown. Prosecutors waited a year to charge him and dozens of others who had been arrested in the flawed police response to the Ferguson protests, which brought national attention to policing issues.

Crawford had been scheduled to meet with his attorney Jerryl Christmas on Thursday afternoon at 4 p.m. to discuss a potential plea deal, his lawyer told HuffPost. But Crawford didnt show.

I was going to discuss with him a resolution that they had offered, or we were going to go to trial, Christmas said. I thought the deal that they offered was not a bad deal.

Christmas said that as part of the deal, charges would have been dropped after Crawford completed community service, but it would have meant Crawford had to initially plead guilty. St. Louis County Counselor Peter Krane declined to talk about the plea deal, saying negotiations were confidential despite the unfortunate and tragic circumstances of the case.

Crawford had been charged with interfering with a police officer in performance of his duty and assaulting a person. In justifying the assault charge, prosecutors alleged that in addition to throwing the burning tear gas canister at police officers, Crawford made physical contact with Officer Michael McCann (see disclosure), causing him to be knocked to the ground.

Crawford was adamant that he was not guilty of what they were alleging, Christmas said. The St. Louis County Police Department has well-established issues with telling the truth . A federal investigation found a pattern of light discipline in investigations involving ethical failings and untruthfulness within the department.