Seth Rich's Family Doesn't Like WikiLeaks Involvement: Report

WASHINGTON, DC — The family of a Democratic National Committee staffer who was murdered in Northwest Washington, D.C., last month isn't happy with WikiLeaks' $20,000 reward for information on his death, asking conspiracy theorists to leave them alone, according to a report.

Seth Rich, a 27-year-old data analyst at the DNC, was fatally shot in what police say was likely a botched robbery while walking home in the D.C. neighborhood of Bloomingdale. Right-wing conspiracy theorists began to suggest more nefarious things were afoot, and WikiLeaks announced it was offering the award on Tuesday — but NBC News is reporting that Rich's family wants nothing to do with it.

NBC quoted Brad Bauman, a spokesperson for Rich's family, as saying that people are "attempting to politicize this horrible tragedy" and are "causing more harm than good and impeding on the ability for law enforcement to properly do their job."

As a result, the family is "asking for the public to refrain from pushing unproven and harmful theories about Seth's murder," Baumann added, according to the report.

WikiLeaks has been cryptic in statements to the press about why the organization wants the information, but the site certainly has not been a friend to the Democratic Party in recent months. The site has defended itself from accusations that the Russian government is using it to swing the presidential election toward Donald Trump after the site published reams of embarrassing DNC emails. Even Tuesday, the site ripped Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton as corrupt and repeatedly asserted that it had no connections with the Russians.

The Metropolitan Police Department is actually offering a larger reward — up to $25,000 — for information on Rich's death.

Image via Wikileaks