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Nebraska man charged in Omaha protester’s death found dead in Oregon

Police said Jacob Gardner's body was found Sunday outside a medical clinic in Hillsboro, Oregon.

Credit: AP

A memorial for James Scurlock remains Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2020, near where he was shot and killed on May 30, in Omaha, Neb. This week's decision to charge Jake Gardner, a white bar owner who fatally shot James Scurlock, a Black man, during a chaotic night of protests in downtown Omaha months after the shooting was initially deemed self-defense highlights how difficult it can be to sort out these cases. AP Photo/Nati Harnik)

HILLSBORO, Ore. — An attorney for a white business owner who was charged in the fatal shooting of a Black man during civil unrest in Nebraska says the man has died by suicide.

Police said Jacob Gardner's body was found Sunday outside a medical clinic in Hillsboro, Oregon.

Attorney Stu Dornan said it was a suicide. Gardner was charged Tuesday in the death of James Scurlock. Police say 38-year-old Gardner shot Scurlock during a protest outside Gardner’s bar in downtown Omaha on May 30.

Gardner had said the shooting was done in self-defense. Dornan says Gardner was scheduled to return to Omaha on Sunday to face the charges against him.