JACKSON, Miss. — The NAACP is conducting an independent investigation into the shooting death of a George County High School football star.

Billey Joe Johnson died Dec. 8 after his vehicle was stopped by a sheriff's deputy.

Authorities have said the shooting appears to have been self-inflicted. But Curley Clark, president of the Gulf Coast chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said Monday the civil rights organization does not believe the 17-year-old committed suicide.

"That is not an option. We are not going to accept that explanation if it's given," Clark said, adding that the organization's report on the incident is expected by the end of the week.

The NAACP is conducting interviews and has scheduled an independent pathologist to conduct an autopsy.

Sheriff Garry Welford had said it appeared the gunshot was self-inflicted, but asked District Attorney Tony Lawrence and the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation to review the incident.

Lawrence, who met Monday with Johnson's family, did not immediately return a call from The Associated Press seeking comment.

According to Welford, a deputy stopped Johnson in Lucedale. The deputy then walked to his patrol car and while sitting in the vehicle, he heard the gunshot. Welford said the deputy found Johnson lying on the ground on the driver's side of the teen's vehicle.

"We've conducted numerous interviews with persons who are familiar with Billey Joe," Clark said. "We haven't been able to find anything that suggested he was in that state of mind or would in any way consider suicide."

Johnson was a tailback who rushed for more than 4,000 yards in his three-year high school career. A national recruiting service said Johnson had scholarship offers from Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, LSU and others.

"He was one of the kids that was out front," Al Jones, the high school's head football coach, said Monday. "It's hard to believe. I was getting ready to take him to a banquet that day. All of sudden you go from that to this tragedy."

Clark said the NAACP's preliminary investigation found that Johnson was a well-liked student. He said the teen came from a poor family and football hopefully was going to be his way out of poverty.

"As late as this morning, we've received information from residents," Clark said. "The good thing is they're both black and white and no one at this point has suggested that Billey Joe is going to commit suicide. The local community is outraged."