Tyler Perry's nephew commits suicide in prison, family suspicious, TMZ reports
The nephew of actor Tyler Perry reportedly killed himself while behind bars, but the family suspects it was foul play, according to TMZ.
The website says that 26-year-old Gavin Porter was found dead in his cell on Tuesday night in a prison near Union Parish in Louisiana.
TMZ reports that prison officials told Porter's family that he had hanged himself with a bedsheet while in solitary confinement. Porter had reportedly gotten into a fight with another inmate and was put in solitary confinement over the weekend.
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Porter was reportedly found dead around 8:00 p.m.
TMZ says that Perry has now hired Dr. Michael Baden, a famed pathologist, to determine if Porter was murdered or it was suicide.
Perry posted this statement on his Instagram account: "Call me naive, but it was my hope that after serving his time, really reflecting showing much remorse and asking God for forgiveness, that he would have been able to come to work for me. Where he would join all the other former inmates who work for me and turn his life around just as they have. But that day will never come."
Porter was serving a 20 year sentence for shooting and killing his father in 2016 during an argument, according to TMZ.