University of North Carolina conservative professor's death ruled suicide

The death of a University of North Carolina Wilmington professor whose controversial social media posts were followed by his retirement announcement and his death died as a result of suicide, officials said Monday.

"Detectives began their investigation in partnership with the medical examiner and it was ascertained that Mr. Adams committed suicide with a single gunshot wound to the head. No other people were in the home and foul play is not suspected," according to the New Hanover County Sheriff's Office. 

Officers conducting a welfare check Thursday on conservative professor Mike Adams found him dead in his bedroom.

Adams, who had come under fire for comments he posted on social media, was poised to retire from the university effective August 1.

In late May, Adams posted tweets including one that said, "This evening I ate pizza and drank beer with six guys at a six seat table top. I almost felt like a free man who was not living in the slave state of North Carolina. Massa Cooper, let my people go!"

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper is a Democrat.

Another of Adams's tweets said, "Don’t shut down the universities. Shut down the non essential majors. Like Women’s Studies."