Mark Mayfield, a Mississippi Tea Party leader and lawyer, died of an apparent suicide Friday morning.

Mayfield’s wife, Robin, called 911 just after 9 a.m. to say her husband had shot himself. He was lying on the floor of a storage room in his garage with a single gunshot wound to the head, a “large caliber revolver” near the body.

Lt. John Neal of the Ridgeland Police Department said a suicide note was recovered, but declined to share its contents. He said no foul play is suspected.

Mayfield was arrested on May 22, along with three other men, and charged with conspiracy. He was accused of conspiring with a blogger charged with photographing Cochran’s bedridden wife, Rose Cochran, in her nursing home for use in a political video against the incumbent. Mayfield was charged with conspiracy to photograph someone without permission. The Madison County district attorney alleged that Mayfield advised the photographer on how to get into the nursing home.

Authorities arrested Mayfield at his law office. Mayfield denied the charge and was released after posting a $25,000 cash bond. All the charges are pending. McDaniel’s campaign has denied involvement in the incident. Mayfield played a variety of roles within the Tea Party and ran his own law firm in the state capitol of Jackson for more than three decades.

Grant Sowell, a leader of the Tupelo Tea Party who knew Mayfield for five years, said he sort of “got cut off from the world” after the arrest. He also shut down his Facebook account.

“Usually when somebody dies you try to find something nice to say, but it isn’t hard with somebody like Mark,” said Sowell. “Think of the five people you know who have the best qualities all rolled into one and that guy is Mark Mayfield.”

“This is an election, but an election shouldn’t cost a life,” said Sowell . “It just breaks my heart.”