Troopers: Home Depot customer inadvertently tied rope that resembled noose

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The Delaware State Police reported that allegations of a noose at a Wilmington Home Depot store on Miller Road apparently came from a customer’s effort at  knot tying.

A statement  from State Police said  the customer came to  Home Depot one day last week and “simply tied the rope.” The Home Depot patron was building a pergola/canopy for a customer who requested a different type of “rope knots” as a decoration. 

The customer said the knot was strictly for work purposes and that no racial motive was behind the knot.

Troopers were called to the store on Monday regarding the complaint.

A store manager stated that he received threatening phone calls while at work,  two by females and one by a male who made racially fueled curses.

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The manager told troopers that on Friday, July 12, he was called to the rope aisle. The manager stated that two women were heard screaming his name because someone had tied what appeared to be a noose into a rope spool.

 The manager stated that  he cut down the rope and apologized. 

The manager stated that he continued to be subject to yelling from the customers  and offered the name of a  district manager as a  contact.

In 2015, nooses were reported on the University of Delaware campus. It turned out that the materials  were left over from a past event.

This week, rope found at a Michigan hospital turned out to be an attempt by an individual to practice tying a fishing knot. 

Nooses have been spotted in other parts of the country, but are often in visible locations where the intent of the perpetrators is clear. 

Nooses are associated with the wave of mob lynchings of African Americans that occurred in Delaware and in many areas of the South.

The latest story was picked by media around the region, despite the shaky nature of some past reports. The social media post that fueled the incident did feature a knot that closely resembled a noose.

New Castle pastor and former New Castle County Council President  Christopher Bullock did not buy the explanation and held a  press event  in the Home Depot parking lot to protest the presence of the noose. 

Protesters said a social media post showed the knot could be mistaken for anything other than a noose. 

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