Police investigating hate incident after noose hung, BLM sign stolen, at Massachusetts church

Police are investigating a hate incident that took place at a Massachusetts church recently.

According to town officials, Wednesday night, the Danvers Police Department received a report of a possible hate crime at the Northshore Unitarian Universalist Church located on Locust Street in Danvers.

At approximately 8:00 p.m., a volunteer noticed that the church’s Black Lives Matter sign was missing and that a piece of rope, appeared to be a formed into a noose, was hung on the church’s main sign.

The town is in the process of trying to get to the bottom of the incident.

“The Town of Danvers takes this incident very seriously. The Danvers Police Department is actively investigating this incident to determine who is responsible, and would ask anyone with information, or who may have been in this area in the past 24 hours and witnessed suspicious activity, to contact the Police Department at 978-774-1212.”

The incident is being considered a hate incident, but has yet to be deemed a hate crime.

“We do not yet know who did this or why, but the message a symbol like this is intended to send is one of fear and intimidation. We reject such acts of cowardice and want to be clear that this type of hateful and discriminatory behavior has no place in Danvers or any community.”