COMING WEDNESDAY | Fire, effigies ‘highly suspicious,’ DeKalb mayor says

May 23, 2023 at 2:17 p.m.

by Stevon Gamble

Objects that appear to be effigies hanging from nooses are seen Tuesday morning, May 23, 2023, at an arena on North Runnels Street in DeKalb, Texas. The figures were discovered following a fire that destroyed a concession stand adjacent to the arena. (Photo courtesy of Tish Williams)
Objects that appear to be effigies hanging from nooses are seen Tuesday morning, May 23, 2023, at an arena on North Runnels Street in DeKalb, Texas. The figures were discovered following a fire that destroyed a concession stand adjacent to the arena. (Photo courtesy of Tish Williams)

DeKALB, Texas -- Officials in this western Bowie County city are investigating a fire that destroyed a concession stand at an arena used by the city's Black community.

The fire occurred after midnight Tuesday in the 600 block of North Runnels, behind Full Gospel Holy Temple. No one was injured.

Later Tuesday, the informal group of residents who care for and use the leased property discovered what appeared to be nooses and effigies hanging from one end of the adjacent arena.

"With the effigies, it does make it highly suspicious," Mayor Lowell Walker said to the Gazette.

See Wednesday's edition for extended coverage.

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