by C. Douglas Golden, Western Journal:

When a controversial political figure dies, it hardly helps to indulge in fact-challenged conspiracy theories.

If you’re in officialdom, however, it hardly helps those conspiracy theories from being formed when you issue a statement about the cause of death before the actual cause of death has been established.

That seems to be the case in the death of Philip Haney, a former Department of Homeland Security official and whistleblower who went public with charges that the Obama administration blew chances to stop terrorist attacks.

Since his testimony, Haney had become a controversial pundit on the issue of radical Islam, penning a 2016 book titled “See Something, Say Nothing: A Homeland Security Officer Exposes the Government’s Submission to Jihad.”

On Friday morning, according to the Washington Examiner, Haney was found dead 40 miles east of Sacramento, California, in rural Amador County at a park-and-ride adjacent to state Highway 16 near state Highway 124. The cause of death was a gunshot to the head.

On Saturday, according to The Sacramento Bee, the Amador County Sheriff’s Office reported Haney “was deceased and appeared to have suffered a single, self-inflicted gunshot wound,” likely from a weapon found near his RV.

Two days later, this changed quite a bit.

“Unfortunately, there was misinformation immediately being put out that we have determined Mr. Haney’s death to be a suicide,” a Monday night news release from the Amador County Sheriff’s Office read, according to the Washington Examiner.

“This is not the case. We are currently in the beginning phase of our investigation, and any final determination as to the cause and manner of Mr. Haney’s death would be extremely premature and inappropriate.”

The statement also gave more context as to where Haney was found.

“Highway 16 is a busy state highway and used as a main travel route to and from Sacramento. The location is less than three miles from where [Haney] was living,” it read.

As the Examiner reported: “Sheriff’s investigators conducted a neighborhood canvas and interviewed Haney’s RV park neighbors on the day of the incident. They also examined ‘key areas for any video surveillance that may exist from that time.’ A forensic autopsy has been scheduled to be performed by forensic pathologists from the Sacramento County Coroner’s Office.”

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