Residents express concern to police over KKK information left on doorsteps in Morgantown

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — A North Carolina-based group that appears to support the Ku Klux Klan has been leaving literature throughout Morgantown, according to a new report from city police.

Approximately 50 sandwich bags filled with birdseed and a small piece of paper urging support for the KKK have been discovered in the Morgantown area.

Though no laws have been broken, Morgantown Police Chief Ed Preston said there was a fair amount of public concern and fear.

“There was tremendous concern, especially coming on the heels of the mosque shooting in New Zealand, and this type of activity has happened in numerous other places around the United States,” Preston told WAJR-AM.

Law enforcement in several states and communities and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have been alerted to the dissemination of these materials.

“Some are about race mixing, some are about anti-Semitism and anti-Jewish fervored content,” Preston said. “There’s even some that’s dealing with Native Americans. There’s a whole series of different messages in the materials that have been distributed.”

Preston said initial reports to his office came from those concerned that they were being specifically targeted, but he said the dissemination of these messages appeared to be “widespread.”

“There is other reports that are outside of the city limits, there are reports in Virginia, and Pennsylvania, and Kentucky,” Preston said. “It’s not centered to just Morgantown. This type of activity with the birdseed and the bags — it has happened a number of times in the past. It’s all attributed to a group based out of Reidsville, North Carolina.”

Preston is encouraging anyone who receives these bags to alert police and throw away the materials or recycle the bird seed.

“Everything here appears to be either trying to garner support, get people to listen to their radio broadcast, or to contact them potentially for membership,” Preston said.

Anyone who has observed a vehicle or can describe someone who is distributing the materials is asked to contact their local law enforcement agency.

Any information passed to police will be passed along to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Preston said.





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