Lawyer for man who found a noose outside a Brookfield home says police are 'downplaying hate crime' possibility

The lawyer for the Brookfield man who found a noose hanging from a tree on his street last week says the police department is "downplaying the possibility this was a hate crime."

Richard Shaw II, who is black, believes it was targeted at his family.

Shaw II and his father, the Rev. Richard Shaw, along with their attorney, Roy Evans, spoke about the July 12 discovery during a news conference Friday morning at St. Matthew Christian Methodist Episcopal Church in Milwaukee where Shaw serves as pastor.

In response, the City of Brookfield Police Department says it "takes the placement of a noose in our community very seriously" and continues to investigate. 

Detectives "are open-minded to all potential motives and theories," Capt. Thomas Vento said.

On July 12, Shaw II posted a photo of the noose on Facebook, which was shared more than 13,000 times.

Later that day, police reported that they'd found the noose in the 15300 block of West Bluemound Road outside the home of an Asian family, who was out of town. A member of that family had recently died by suicide by hanging, police said. 

"It certainly throws a different possibility here, which is just as harmful and disgusting as if the noose were hanging outside a black family's home," Vento said at the time. "We just don't know yet where (the case) is going."

The Shaw family says they were stunned that this was raised as a possible explanation.

Evans, who spoke to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel after Friday's news conference, said it added "insult to injury" to the Shaw family. 

Evans said that though the noose was not hanging directly in front of his client's house, it was "in clear view," and is "known for its historic symbolism of racist terror against African Americans in America."

He added that the national rhetoric on race provides an environment where incidents like this could escalate.

Many people in the St. Matthew's congregation were stunned when they heard about the noose, Evans said. Some members are from the South and know of people who have been lynched or run out of their homes.

"It has a different meaning to us," said Evans, who is black.

Evans, who used to work in Brookfield in the 1960s, said this isn't about Brookfield but something bigger.

"Hatred and bigotry of any kind should not be tolerated," he said. "The St. Matthew (Church) 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."

City of Brookfield Mayor Steve Ponto said he unequivocally condemns the act.

"There is no place in our community or any other community for this type of thing," Ponto said. 

The noose has been forwarded to the state crime lab for analysis, and the department has involved crime stoppers, according to a news release from Vento. 

Anyone with information on the case is asked to contact police at 262-787-3702.

Contact Karen Pilarski at karen.pilarski@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @KarenPilarski.