Jamal Mallard found dead in Mississippi jail cell after lawnmower theft arrest

Jamal Mallard
Jamal Mallard
Jamal Mallard

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation has launched an investigation into the death of a Jackson city jail inmate.

Police Chief Lee Vance said Sunday the 29-year-old man was found dead in a holding cell around 6 a.m.

Vance says Jamal Mallard was found on the floor of a holding cell unresponsive.

The chief says Mallard was arrested early Sunday morning in the theft of a lawnmower.

The Clarion-Ledger reports an autopsy has been ordered to determine the cause of death.

There were no immediate signs of trauma to Mallard’s body, authorities said.

Mallard’s family thinks “something suspicious may have happened to him,” Mississippi News Now reports.

“I wasn’t allowed to see my child before they carried him out, you know what I’m saying,” Nanette Mallard, Jamal’s mother, told the station. “I want to see my child whole and then I want to examine him for myself. I want to see if there was any bruises on my child because he didn’t leave here like that.”