Art Teele was an African-American Republican county commissioner in Miami, Florida, which was suspended when July 27, 2005, he entered the Miami Herald building and shot himself in the head. He was still conscious on the way to the hospital and would respond to commands that blink, but he was pronounced dead two hours later.
Teele has faced many problems in the past, including federal charges of money laundering, mail and wire fraud in helping a minority company win more than 20 million dollars of electricity contracts the Miami International Airport, where the work was actually performed by a larger and non - minority companies, and a conviction for threatening a police officer in March 2005. Teele faced 20 years in prison if convicted of the charges against him.