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Search for motive unfruitful in actor Lee Thompson Young’s death

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Lee Thompson Young. (29003)
Lee Thompson Young.

Investigators have failed to find a motive for the suicide of 29-year-old “Rizzoli & Isles” cast member Lee Thompson Young, according to published reports.

However, E! News reported Wednesday that Young suffered from depression. E! News, a source for entertainment and celebrity news, also reported that Young was a practitioner of the Yoruba religion, “a faith based on the ancient traditions of the Yorùbá people.”

Coroner’s officials confirmed Tuesday that Young—also known for his starring role on Disney Channel’s “The Famous Jett Jackson”— committed suicide by shooting himself inside his North Hollywood apartment.

Police found the actor dead around 8 a.m. Monday after being called to his apartment in the 5000 block of Tujunga Avenue.

Young, a regular on the TNT police drama “Rizzoli & Isles,” did not show up for work Monday, prompting staffers to call his landlord, the celebrity news website TMZ.com reported.

Production of the show has been suspended for the week.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ that no suicide note was found, and a journal Young kept contained only mundane entries.

A search of his computer also turned up no clues as to why he would take his life, according to the TMZ, which reported that members of the actor’s family have said he suffered from depression.

A law enforcement source told the New York Daily news that the suicide is “still a mystery.”

“Evidently he was a clean-cut kid who didn’t use alcohol and had no reported drug problem,” the source said.

E! News reported that Young did not drink or party.

“He was the opposite. Lee loved to travel and was always the first to tell everyone to take a breath and enjoy the beauty of life.” He was always “gentle and unassuming,” despite his early success, and didn’t have the typical “look-at-me” attitude, the service reported.

“The Famous Jett Jackson star ‘took [his religion] to the next level and started wearing white all of the time,’ says a source, adding, “This religion was everything to him.” Although he reportedly took a break from practicing Yorùbá, he recently returned to the religion. Just before his death, he visited a small village in Africa for something reportedly related to the religion.”

However, a source told E! News that the Yoruba religion does not support suicide.

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