Man found hanging in park as students arrive at nearby schools

Chester County school district officials attempted to shield students from a grim site Monday morning: the body of man hanging from a nearby swing set at Marshall Square Park.

After the gruesome discovery, district buses were rerouted so that students would bypass the scene as investigators worked to uncover the details surrounding the dead body, NBC reported.

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“He was found hanging from the swing set,” West Chester Police Chief Scott Bohn said to Daily Local News, which added that authorities believe the man’s death was a suicide.

“Right at the corner at the end of the park, there was a whole group of kids waiting for a bus. I’m hoping they didn’t see anything,” Matthew Rose, who was driving his 15-year-old son to school, said to Philly.com. His 18-year-old daughter, though, did see the body from a school bus.

Because it was the time in the morning when many students and commuters were making their way to their destinations, numerous people saw the body or the aftermath of its discovery, Daily Local News reported.

District Superintendent Jim Scanlon said in a statement quoted by NBC, “We did have some high school and middle school buses go through there before 7 a.m., and some high school students driving to Henderson may have witnessed the police activity.”

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Counselors were made available to students who wanted to talk about what they saw, Philly.com added.

A student allegedly posted a photo of the hanging corpse on social media, but it was taken down, according to Daily Local News.