“No place in our community": Brookfield Police investigating after “noose” found near neighborhood

BROOKFIELD (CBS 58) --- Brookfield police are investigating after someone walking along Bluemound Road spotted what appeared to be a noose hanging on a tree.

It happened Friday night in the 15300 block of Bluemound Road.

“I can unequivocally condemn it. It really has no place in our community or no place in any other community,” said Brookfield Mayor Steven Ponto.

Officers took down the rope as evidence.

“It’s scary, it’s quite unheard of in this part of town,” said Simrenjit Kaur who lives in the area.

One person posted a picture of the rope on social media, and it’s been shared more than 10,000 times.

“Obviously I don’t know who did it, and I don’t know what their motivation was,” said Ponto.

Neighbors in the area say that the family that lives in the house near the tree is Asian. They were not home to comment about the recent incident.

Mayor Ponto believes this was an isolated incident.

“It’s not reflective of our community, and I hope it’s not reflective of any other community,” said Ponto.

The person who took the photo did not want to comment and referred us to his attorney. Below is a statement from the man's attorney:

"On July 12 , 2019, while walking with a friend in the area near his home on West Bluemound Rd. in the City of Brookfield, Richard Shaw Jr. came upon the shocking sight of a noose hanging from a tree between his parents home and the home of their adjacent neighbor. In shocked disbelief Richard Jr. contacted his father who immediately came and took a picture of this incredible image of historical racial terror and intimidation. The Brookfield authorities were contacted immediately and an officer was dispatched to do a preliminary investigation. At this time an investigation is ongoing and no investigative report narrative or investigative plan for this incident has been provided. Having been posted on social media this incident has drawn local, national and some international attention.

Having relocated from Alabama and assigned to pastor St. Matthew CME Church in Milwaukee, the Shaw family have lived in this Brookfield neighborhood for over three (3) years and have been the only family of color in this neighborhood. New neighbors have recently moved next door and both families feel targeted by this act. The Shaw family, including the St. Matthew CME Church family, which he pastors, is outraged as well as fearful by this racist, unlawful and cowardly act of intimidation and views this as an act of terrorism that demands a full and complete investigation in order to apprehend and bring to justice anyone involved in this crime of hate.

To African Americans the image of a noose hanging from a tree symbolizes a long historic struggle against the racist brutality endured by countless numbers of innocent black people who were intimidated and terrorized by extrajudicial lynching’s associated with hate and slavery. The fear and trauma caused by this act is a direct form of violence that should not go unrecognized or unpunished for what it was intended to accomplish. Hatred and bigotry of any kind should not be tolerated. The St. Matthew family would be just as outraged at the dehumanizing vandalism of a swastika defacing Brookfield’s Chabad Synagogue or Sikh Temple if ever such an incident were to occur. Racism and bigotry has no place in race, religion or in any other form in our American culture.

Recently released national data shows that there has been a 30% increase in race based hate crimes and religious intimidation. It is unfortunate that our countries current climate of tolerance is undermined by a racist xenophobic leadership that supports and promotes acts of intimidation and intolerance. We are calling upon the Brookfield Police Department and City of Brookfield city leaders to conduct a complete and thorough investigation of this hate crime incident by using all legal means available to locate, identify and bring the perpetrator(s) of this act of terror to justice. No unlawful acts of race or religious based threats of harm or intimidation should be and will not be tolerated."