UPDATE Sept. 18, 2024 —-Javion Magee’s family will host a press conference in front of the Vance County Courthouse in Henderson, North Carolina, which will be the first time the family has spoken publicly. Magee’s family will be joined by their attorneys, Harry Daniels, Lee Merritt and NC attorney Jason Keith.
Magee, a truck driver from Aurora, was in Henderson, NC, delivering a load to a local Walmart Supercenter on Sept. 10. He was found dead the following morning outside of a fenced-in area at the base of a tree in a seated position with a rope wrapped around his neck and the other end attached to a tree, according to a police report.
“North Carolina is home to as many as 50 hate and antigovernment groups including the Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan and the Proud Boys whose Raleigh chapter is roughly an hour away from Henderson,” according to the written release.
A cause and manner of death are still pending.
On Sept. 16 at 3:44 p.m., the Vance County Sheriff’s Office released surveillance video of Chicagoland truck driver 21-year-old Javion Magee exiting the local Walmart Supercenter with a blue rope he purchased at the store’s self checkout on Sept. 11 in Henderson, North Carolina.
The Sheriff’s Office released five videos of Magee in the Walmart. None of the videos show him entering the store, but only him purchasing the rope and exiting the store. He purchased the rope around 6:19 p.m. on Sept. 10. He exited the story around 6:20 p.m, walked to the parking lot, got into the truck and drove off around 6:23 p.m, according to the Walmart surveillance footage.
Magee, a truck driver who lives in the Chicagoland area, was in Henderson, NC, delivering a load to Walmart on that same day, according to Candice Matthews, a civil rights activist and state chair for the Texas Democratic Black Caucus, who is serving as spokesperson for Magee’s family.
The following morning on Sept. 11, a call for service was made at 10:08 a.m., at 285 Vanco Mill Road, in Henderson, NC. Deputies found Magee outside of a fenced-in area at the base of a tree in a seated position with a rope wrapped around his neck and the other end attached to a tree, according to a police report.
Magee’s family, who also received the video, said that the video doesn’t prove anything, according to Matthews.
“As a truck driver, this is part of the equipment used for loads,” Matthews told The TRiiBE on Sept. 16. “This is part of his job and part of the equipment that’s used to tie down loads.”
Magee was a driver for KLLM Transport Services.
It’s unclear if the rope purchased by Magee on Sept. 10 was the same rope that deputies found around Magee’s neck. Vance County Sheriff Curtis Brame couldn’t be reached for comment.
A cause and manner of death are still pending. Ahead of today’s video release, Brame told The TRiiBE that a preliminary investigation revealed that Magee didn’t have any defensive wounds whatsoever and that the cause of death still hasn’t been determined.
“He did have hemorrhaging around the neck from when he was hanging from the tree. It did not show any signs of him doing this to himself because there was nothing under his fingernails,” Matthews told The TRiiBE on Sept. 14.
The family is questioning the police’s account and still has unanswered questions, one being what happened from the time Magee dropped off his load to when he was found miles away hanging from a tree.
The Vance County Sheriff’s Office initially told Magee’s mother and stepfather that Magee died by suicide, Matthews said.
On Sept. 13, in a TV interview, Brame said it wasn’t a lynching.
“There’s been information put out there that there’s a lynching. There is not a lynching. The young man was not dangling from a tree,” Brame said. “He was not swinging from a tree. The rope was wrapped around his neck. It was not a noose. There was not a knot in the rope. So therefore, it was not a lynching here in Vance County.”
Matthews said Magee didn’t have a history of mental illness or criminal activity. “So what would make this man hang himself?” Matthews said rhetorically. “And how he was hung, it was no way that he could have done that himself.”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
