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Medical examiner identifies man who hanged himself on Midwest City school playground

Police are investigating a man's apparent suicide at an elementary school in Midwest City. The state medical examiner identified him as Joseph Bagby, 25.

FROM STAFF REPORTS | Modified: January 15, 2013 at 9:43 pm | Published: January 15, 2013

MIDWEST CITY — A man was found dead hanging from a basketball goal on an elementary school playground Tuesday morning, Assistant Police Chief Sid Porter said.

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The state medical examiner identified him as Joseph Bagby, 25.

The case is being investigated as a suicide.

“It's just a tragic deal,” Porter said. “We don't know why he chose the school. We haven't found any correlation between him and the school.”

An administrator at Ridgecrest Elementary, 137 Ridgewood Drive, found the man's body hanging from the goal about 8 a.m.

Porter said school employees acted quickly to screen off the body from students until the police arrived.

“He was discovered around 8 a.m., and the kids don't get there until 9,” Porter said.

“The school did a great job, and the principal waited outside to tell the parents what was going on. They kept the kids to one area of the building so they wouldn't see anything.”