The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department is looking into a case of a man wearing a white Ku Klux Klan hood while shopping, according to a statement (pdf).
On Saturday, the officials in the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department were made aware of an incident in Santee, Calif., where a man wore a Ku Klux Klan hood in a grocery store.
This incident took place a day after new guidelines were set in place regarding wearing face masks as a preventative measure to stop the spread of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as novel coronavirus.
“Several members of our team asked the customer to remove [the hood], and all requests were ignored until the customer was in the checkout area,” said Melissa Hill, a corporate spokeswoman for Vons is reported to have said in Times of San Diego. When the man lined up at the check-out area, a supervisor found him and told him to remove the hood or leave.
Hill said that the man removed the hood, purchased the items at check-out, and then left.
Following the incident, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) issued a statement on Monday regarding the incident and urged the authorities to pursue an investigation into the incident.
According to the Sheriff’s Department’s statement, the officials at the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department wasn’t called to the scene at the time of the incident but will pursue an investigation into the incident to determine whether or not this incident would be considered a hate crime. Officials stated that the department will pursue any criminal charges where appropriate.
“The Sheriff’s Department does not condone hate or any acts of intolerance in our communities. We are a county that is welcoming of people from all backgrounds,” the statement read.
Dianne Jacob, the Santee County Supervisor, condemned the incident in a statement, saying: “The images I’ve seen are abhorrent. This blatant racism has no place in Santee or any part of San Diego County. It is not who we are. It is not what we stand for and can’t be tolerated.”
The mayor also thanked the people who helped resolve the incident on Saturday, saying: “many thanks to all who stepped forward to curtail this sad reminder of intolerance. Santee, its leaders, and I will not tolerate such behavior.”