Photo of armed students at Emmett Till sign is investigated

The University of Mississippi says it has asked the FBI to investigate a photograph of three male students posing with guns beside an oft-vandalized historic marker to lynching victim Emmett Till.

Ole Miss spokesman Rod Guajardo says the three have been suspended by their fraternity, Kappa Alpha Order, which is linked to Old South imagery.

Guajardo says the image is “offensive and hurtful” but says the university has taken no disciplinary action because the picture was taken off campus and was not part of a university event.

It’s unclear whether the students actually shot the sign or when the picture was taken.

Patrick Weems, executive director of the Emmett Till Memorial Commission, says it was shot sometime in summer 2018 and again in fall 2018.

Till was slain in 1955.

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