At 11:20 a.m. Tuesday, about 90 minutes before he fell from the roof of the Vicksburg Convention Center, James Michael Pace wrote the following post on his Facebook page: “Please say some prayers for me and my co-workers y’all; this heat has never gotten to me like this and I now see how serious it is.”

About 29 minutes later, Pace, 28, of Pelahatchie, an employee of E. Cornell Malone Corp. of Jackson, wrote another post.

“I took a BC for a headache which always works; it worked for 25 minutes and 13 seconds, and I had sweated all of it out and was back to my migraine. … Now I may be super delirious right now on my lunch or I just exposed an epidemic no one even knew was occurring?”

Pace died after falling from the roof about 12:55 p.m. At the time, according to the National Weather Service observation site at the Vicksburg-Tallulah Regional Airport, the temperature was 95 degrees and the heat index was 110. He was on the roof alone at the time.

“A co-worker had gone down to their truck to get something and stopped to get a drink of water. When he returned, he didn’t see him and went looking for him,” deputy Vicksburg police chief Bobby Stewart said. “When he went to the spot where he was working, he looked down and saw Mr. Pace and immediately called 911.”

Vicksburg police Lt. Troy Kimble said police were told Pace was working on the roof’s flashing when he fell. He was part of a crew for Malone, which has the contract to replace the convention center roof. Convention center executive director Annette Kirklin said the workers were in the process of fixing minor problems on the roof that were discussed at a project meeting last week.

Pace was declared dead at the scene by deputy Warren County coroner Ronald C. Regan. His body was sent to the Mississippi State Crime Lab for autopsy. The fall remains under investigation.