West Virginia school district investigating drawing showing noose, basketball player

A West Virginia school district is reportedly investigating a drawing showing a noose that referenced a black basketball player from another school.

According to CNN, the player, Jace Colucci, found the drawing of a stick figure hanging from a noose with the face colored in and an arrow pointing to the name “Jace” in a visitor’s locker room at Wyoming East High School.

“These drawings and their origin will be investigated thoroughly,” Wyoming County Schools Superintendent Deirdre Cline wrote, according to the network, which added that police are also investigating last Friday’s incident.

Wyoming County prosecuting attorney Michael Cochrane said the incident could be classified as a hate crime.

“We’ll take it very seriously,” Cochrane told WVVA in Bluefield, W.Va.

“If it meets that criteria, we’ll definitely jump on that,” he added. “But right now it’s too early to speculate.”

Colucci’s mother, Erica Colucci Ayers, told CNN that students from a different high school also said “hang Jace” in a video on Snapchat last year. She added that the school district investigated and the students who were involved were punished.

She said that her son had been embarrassed and humiliated and that she is seeking justice.

“They crossed the line with the noose. That is a threat on his life. It is a hate crime. They took the time to color the face in on the stick figure,” she added.

The family’s attorney, Sean W. Cook, wrote in an email to CNN that the school district in the previous incident did not share its findings and did not name specific students or what disciplinary actions they received.