Current:Home > StocksRural Nevada sheriff probes potential hate crime after Black man says he was racially harassed -Capital Dream Guides
Rural Nevada sheriff probes potential hate crime after Black man says he was racially harassed
View
Date:2025-04-14 20:04:18
RENO, Nev. (AP) — A rural Nevada sheriff is investigating a potential hate crime after a Black man who was collecting signatures for a ballot measure recorded a confrontation with another man he said directed a racial slur at him and said “they have a hanging tree” for people like him.
“I’m still shaking every time I think about it,” Ricky Johnson told The Associated Press by phone Monday as he boarded a plane in northern Nevada back to his home in Houston, Texas.
Johnson posted part of the video of the Aug. 2 incident in Virginia City, Nevada, on social media, and the comments drew swift condemnation from local and state officials. Sponsors of the 10-day Hot August Nights class car event that was being held at the time said it revoked the registrations of those identified in the video confronting Johnson.
Storey County Undersheriff Eric Kern said Monday the office has completed interviews with Johnson and potential suspects and delivered the case to the district attorney for a decision on any charges.
“As far as a hate crime, it could be an element,” Kern told AP. “There is an enhancement we are looking at.”
Johnson, who can’t be seen on the video he posted to TikTok, said a white man called him a racial epithet and referenced the “hanging tree” before he started recording the encounter. In the recording, Johnson asks the man to repeat what he said.
A loud, profanity-filled argument on both sides followed before a woman told Johnson he was on her property and he repeatedly asks her not to touch him as they move the conversation into the street, the video shows.
Kern said Johnson provided the video to investigators. He said no one, whether suspect or victim, has been uncooperative in the investigation.
In a statement over the weekend, the sheriff’s office said it doesn’t condone racism, inequality or hate speech and wants to ensure the public it’s doing a thorough investigation.
“But I want to say that in general, in Virginia City, this is not something that happens here,” Kern said. “It’s really a sad thing but it’s an isolated incident. It’s has caused a lot of negative impacts on all sides because people are getting a negative opinion. People are calling businesses.”
Storey County District Attorney Anne Langer didn’t respond to an email request for comment Monday. A spokeswoman for her office referred calls to County Manager Austin Osborne. Osborne’s office said he wasn’t available.
Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford, who is Black, offered his support Monday to the Storey County Sheriff’s Office in the investigation of what he said was a “hateful, racist incident” in one of Nevada’s most storied towns.
Virginia City attracts tens of thousands of tourists who walk its wood-planked sidewalks filled with old saloons and stores in the Virginia Range just east of the Sierra, about 30 minutes outside of Reno.
It was Nevada’s largest city in the mid-1800s when the discovery of the Comstock Lode brought thousands of silver miners there. Samuel Clemens got his start in the newspaper business and adopted his pen name, Mark Twain, there at the Territorial Enterprise.
Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo posted on social media saying he was concerned and disappointed by the incident.
“Racism and hate have no place in Nevada — this behavior must be condemned in the strongest terms possible,” he wrote on X.
The Virginia City Tourism Commission denounced the “hateful and racist” behavior as “abhorrent and inexcusable.”
Johnson was working for Advanced Micro Targeting Inc., a Texas-based company that provides voter outreach and get-out-the-vote services, to collect signatures for a proposed Nevada state ballot initiative aimed at capping fees that attorneys collect from clients in personal injury cases.
Johnson said he’s been the target of racial slurs before but the Virginia City incident was different.
“To be actually in the middle of that and you have no way out. you feel like you’re being surrounded by all these people. I felt closed in,” he said.
___
Associated Press writer Ken Ritter contributed to this report from Las Vegas.
veryGood! (5817)
Related
- Finally, good retirement news! Southwest pilots' plan is a bright spot, experts say
- If you love film, you should be worried about what's going on at Turner Classic Movies
- On The Global Stage, Jacinda Ardern Was a Climate Champion, But Victories Were Hard to Come by at Home
- Mazda, Toyota, Nissan, Tesla among 436,000 vehicles recalled. Check car recalls here.
- Could Bill Belichick, Robert Kraft reunite? Maybe in Pro Football Hall of Fame's 2026 class
- Over 1,000 kids are competing in the 2023 Mullet Championships: See the contestants
- A University of Maryland Center Just Gave Most State Agencies Ds and Fs on an Environmental Justice ‘Scorecard’
- Shell plans to increase fossil fuel production despite its net-zero pledge
- Juan Soto to be introduced by Mets at Citi Field after striking record $765 million, 15
- Jessica Simpson Proves She's Comfortable In This Skin With Make-Up Free Selfie on 43rd Birthday
Ranking
- Which apps offer encrypted messaging? How to switch and what to know after feds’ warning
- The Second Biggest Disaster at Mount Vesuvius
- The Energy Transition Runs Into a Ditch in Rural Ohio
- When big tech laid off these H-1B workers, a countdown began
- DoorDash steps up driver ID checks after traffic safety complaints
- A year after Yellowstone floods, fishing guides have to learn 'a whole new river'
- Inside Clean Energy: Some EVs Now Pay for Themselves in a Year
- Inside Clean Energy: Did You Miss Me? A Giant Battery Storage Plant Is Back Online, Just in Time for Summer
Recommendation
What to know about Tuesday’s US House primaries to replace Matt Gaetz and Mike Waltz
Why Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson Are One of Hollywood's Best Love Stories
Biden kept Trump's tariffs on Chinese imports. This is who pays the price
Has inflation changed how you shop and spend? We want to hear from you
Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie return for an 'Encore,' reminisce about 'The Simple Life'
How saving water costs utilities
China owns 380,000 acres of land in the U.S. Here's where
Drugmaker Mallinckrodt may renege on $1.7 billion opioid settlement