FBI To Investigate Nooses Found In California Park As Hate Crime

The FBI said Thursday it would investigate nooses found tied to trees in public spaces in Oakland, California, as a hate crime.

The nooses were found Wednesday in a popular public park along Lake Merritt. Police and residents shared pictures online showing knotted ropes tied to the park’s trees with plastic pipes hanging from them. These were promptly removed by city officials.

Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf denounced the discovery on Wednesday and said police would begin investigating.

The Oakland Police Department subsequently notified the FBI about the nooses and asked for their assistance in the investigation, Schaaf confirmed.

"The evidence has been turned over to the FBI and I want to be clear that regardless of the intentions of whoever put the nooses in our public trees, in our sacred public space here in Oakland intentions don’t matter," Schaaf said.

Some residents have come out in defense of the ropes, saying it was misinterpreted. Victor Sengbe told San Francisco ABC-affiliate, KGO-TV, the ropes likely weren't nooses.

“Out of the dozen and hundreds and thousands of people that walked by, no one has thought that it looked anywhere close to a noose,” Sengbe said. “Folks have used it for exercise. It was really a fun addition to the park that we tried to create.

“It’s unfortunate that a genuine gesture of just wanting to have a good time got misinterpreted into something so heinous.”

Schaaf said good intentions don’t make up for scaring the public.

“It is incumbent on all of us to know the actual history of racial violence, of terrorism, that a noose represents and that we as a city must remove these terrorizing symbols from the public view,” Schaaf said.

Oakland police echoed Schaaf, asking residents to be more mindful given the recent Black Lives Matter protests.

“We remind and ask our community to be mindful when using this equipment in a recreational manner. These acts may send an unintended message,” police said in a statement. “We recognize especially at this time, that any ropes on or attached to trees, limbs or other objects can be associated with hate crimes and racial violence.”

The discovery comes nearly a week after the bodies of Robert Fuller, 24, and Malcolm Harsch, 38, were found hanging from trees in Palmdale and Victorville, respectively. Fuller’s death was initially ruled a suicide by the Los Angeles County medical examiner while a ruling hasn’t been issued on Harsch’s death, but police said there were no signs of foul play.

This prompted fierce backlash from relatives of both men and the Black Lives Matter movement, who called the deaths suspicious and said they believed the men may have been lynched. Subsequent protests have been held demanding police conduct thorough investigations into the deaths.