TUSKEGEE, Ala. — Deputies in Alabama are investigating a cross burning after a wooden cross lit ablaze was found by drivers passing alongside a bridge.
The burning cross was first seen stationed on top of a bridge over Interstate 85 in Macon County Thursday night, Macon County Sheriff Andre Brunson told WRBL-TV.
John Bolton, one of the people who saw the burning cross, told the news outlet what “looked like a shadow” fled from the scene as he ran toward the blaze with two other men who were with him. He then called 911 while “one of the guys climbed up to the bridge to knock the cross down,” Bolton said.
A few minutes later, deputies arrived and helped extinguish the fire, Sheriff Brunson said. Once the fire was gone, Bolton said they saw a tire and a fuel canister had also been set on fire.
Cross burnings have historically been used by racist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan to rally supporters and terrorize black people in the South and elsewhere. So far, there are no suspects in the case, Brunson said.
