Amazon has shut down a construction site in Windsor, Connecticut, after a seventh noose was found on the property on Wednesday.
via People:
The first noose appeared on the property on April 27 and on April 29, five more ropes “that could be interpreted as nooses” were found on different floors, Windsor Police Capt. Andrew Power told USA Today in a statement on Thursday.
Power continued, “Some of them were just rope that was tied at the end and some were twisted in a manner to look like a noose.”
The ropes were hung in areas without surveillance cameras, he told the outlet.
Amazon has increased its reward for information from $50,000 to $100,000, PEOPLE can confirm.
“We continue to be deeply disturbed by the incidents happening at the construction site in Windsor and have ordered its shut down until necessary security measures can be put in place. Hate, racism or discrimination have no place in our society and are certainly not tolerated by Amazon — whether at a site under construction like this one, or at one that we operate,” Amazon representative Kelly Nantel tells PEOPLE in a statement on Friday.
Nantel adds, “We are committed to working with the Town and Windsor Police Department, as well as our development partners, to hold the perpetrators accountable and ensure that all members of our community feel valued, respected and safe.”
A spokesperson for the Connecticut State Police tells PEOPLE, “CSP Eastern District Major Crime Squad is assisting Windsor Police with this investigation.”
The FBI’s Civil Rights Division is also helping in the investigations, USA Today reported.
“The implications of a hanging noose anywhere are unacceptable and will always generate the appropriate investigative response,” FBI special agent David Sundberg told the outlet in a statement.
The FBI in New Haven did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request to comment.
Amazon and the Connecticut NAACP held a joint press conference on Thursday to address the latest incident.
“The NAACP knows what the showing of a noose is,” Connecticut NAACP State President Scot X. Esdaile said, per USA Today. “The NAACP understands and we’ve been in situations where our churches were bombed, children were killed, families were destroyed. We’re not tolerating this nonsense.”
“This is not a harmless prank. This is serious business. NAACP was founded to stop the lynchings that were going on in the south in the early 1900s and the NAACP is now 112 years old and we’ve been fighting against lynchings since the beginning of our organization,” Esdaile continued, according to Channel 3’s Eyewitness News.
A representative for the Greater Hartford Branch of the NAACP told Channel 3 in an added statement that it “takes very seriously the recent report of a noose and ropes found at the construction site of an Amazon facility in Windsor, and the discovery of five additional ropes on different floors of the site.”
“We find this discovery to be both extremely alarming and disturbing. The heinous and historical significance of a noose to African Americans cannot be overlooked, as it represents a dark and evil part of our history,” the rep continued. “The NAACP strongly condemns this and every other act of hate crime and racial intimidation and harassment, and demands a full investigation into the matter leading to criminal prosecution. The noose found at the construction site sends the message of a clear threat to African Americans and those of color who are working at the site, one which cannot be ignored. We further demand that every available measure be put in place to ensure the safety of all workers at the site.”
Amazon knows everything about everyone but can’t seem to catch who’s putting nooses everywhere? Alexa, find the racist.
