*The hunt is on for a white man who dropped off a Ku Klux Klan robe and hood at a second-hand clothing store owned by a black woman.
Fox13 reports that police in Washington are searching for the man responsible for the drop off at Rags to Riches Consignment. The store, owned by Leona Coakley-Spring, opened a few months ago in in an affluent suburb of Seattle.
Upon seeing the KKK clothing in a bag of dresses brought in by a white man, Coakley-Spring was shocked. Police received word of the discovery from the businesswoman’s son, Shane Coakley, who called authorities after taking pictures of the robe and hood.
For Coakley-Spring, KKK gear in the bag represents a threat.
“‘You can’t be a black business owner in downtown Redmond, you can’t be here,’” she told Fox13. “I didn’t know what to do or what to say. It was just so horrifying.”
According to ABC13, the incident is being investigated as a hate crime. Thus far, police have released a composite sketch of the suspect. Authorities went on to state that they are taking the case seriously as they step up patrols near Rags to Riches Consignment.
“I can’t change the way I look,” Coakley-Spring told Fox13. “But it makes me feel like I’m not good enough. And that’s a bad feeling to have, that you’re not good enough.”
Although the incident caused Coakley-Spring to consider closing her store, Shane Coakley detailed why he and his mother chose to keep the store open.
“We close the store, and they would win,” he told Fox13. “And I don’t want to give them any satisfaction.”
To see Fox13’s coverage of Coakley-Spring’s discovery at Rags to Riches Consignment, check out the vide below:
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