Noose placed on brewery shooter’s locker in ’15

MADISON, Wis. — Someone placed a noose several years ago on the locker of a Wisconsin brewery employee who opened fire on his co-workers last week, the brewery operator said Wednesday. Police quickly warned that it’s too early to conclude that racism was a factor in the attack.

Anthony Ferrill, an electrician at the sprawling Molson Coors brewery in Milwaukee, fatally shot five co-workers before killing himself on the campus last week. His motive remains unknown. Ferrill was black. Four of the victims were white. The fifth was Latino.

Milwaukee police said in a statement Wednesday that detectives are still investigating and so far “neither race nor racism has been identified as a factor in this incident.” They also said they haven’t yet found anything that suggests the victims were involved in any racist behavior toward Ferrill.

But they cautioned that the investigation into the Feb. 26 shooting is still ongoing.

“It is imperative to wait for the facts of the investigation to be released rather than speculating and generating a false narrative that could negatively impact the lives of the family members of the victims and of the suspect, as well as the employees of Molson Coors,” the statement said.

Local media have reported over several days on speculation that the attack was racially motivated, interviewing current and former Molson Coors employees anonymously complaining about longstanding discrimination against black workers.

The company on Wednesday confirmed a noose was placed on Ferrill’s locker in 2015. Ferrill wasn’t working that day but was told about it, the company said.

Molson Coors spokesman Adam Collins said the company investigated but there was no security surveillance video showing who placed the noose on the locker. The company explained to employees that such actions weren’t acceptable and shared channels for filing discrimination or harassment complaints.