The White Bear Lake Police Department in Minnesota has revealed that the creator of an Instagram account that sent racist messages to black classmates is a black female, a fact previously covered up by the local school district.
Initially, the school district referred to the account creator merely as a “young person,” and White Bear Lake Superintendent Wayne Kazmierczak said the incident appeared to be a “hoax,” the attentive folks at the College Fix reported Friday.
School officials said the “juvenile female” who created the racist messages had wanted “to raise awareness of social and racial injustice” by staging the stunt.
According to media reports, a black girl named Precious Boahen had suggested the account was created by a white conservative female student at the high school named Avery Severson. Boahen reportedly said Severson, who was attempting to found a campus chapter of Turning Point USA, could have created the account.
“I bet you a billion bucks this is Avery Severson or one of her friends all mad because they can’t have their Turning Point club at school,” Boahen wrote.
A redacted police report conceals the identity of the student who created the account but notes that she is a member of the Black Excellence Club. Employing tech forensics, police determined that the messages — which included telling a group of black girls to “Die N****r” and “You n******s need to leave White Bear” — were sent from the girl’s home IP address.
The report also notes during their investigation, officers had spoken with an alleged victim of the racist messages who said she “believed the culprit” was [name redacted] “who had been jealous of several students successfully creating the Black Excellence Club , and in response attempted to establish a student club for students with conservative political beliefs albeit unsuccessfully.”
The girl who created the account originally told police she did not create the account, but when faced with the evidence changed her story.
The girl, who now admits to establishing the account but denies sending the messages, will not face any criminal charges for the hate-crime hoax, police said. The girl also said there was another person involved in the incident but did not want to “snitch” on the real message-sender.
Speaking with the College Fix, Police Captain Dale Hager said he could not share any details on the identity of the culprit because she is a juvenile, adding he would not confirm or deny whether Precious Boahen had had any involvement in creating or using the account.
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