Grosse Pointe police say 15-year-old made makeshift noose in Panera bathroom

Grosse Pointe police say 15-year-old made noose out of paper towels found in Panera bathroom

Police in Grosse Pointe said a 15-year-old made a paper towel noose and hung it in the bathroom of a Panera restaurant last week.

GROSSE POINTE, Mich. (FOX 2) - Police in Grosse Pointe said they have identified who made a makeshift noose out of paper towels and hung it in the bathroom of a Panera last week - but they're saying who it was.

Kareema Regular, assistant manager of the Panera, said one of her employees made the shocking discovery last Friday and called police.

Now, police said they know who did it - a 15-year-old. But they aren't providing any other details.

In a statement to FOX 2, the Chief John Alcorn wrote "After several days of investigation, City of Grosse Pointe detectives have identified a juvenile suspect in the case. The investigation is ongoing; a warrant request will be sent to the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office for review when complete".

Regular said on Monday that the message for the restaurant in the predominantly white city was very clear for the mostly Black employees.

"Ninety-nine percent of us who work here is Black, so it’s no way around it that that wasn’t intended for us," Regular said.

Henry Wilson, President of the Grosse Pointe Harper Woods chapter of the NAACP, expressed gratitude for the quick actions by police.

"I spoke to the public safety and we’ve been working hand-in-hand since the incident happened very disturbing incident," Wilson said. "I’m happy that they have found a possible suspect. And I want to see the results of the facts that are presented to the prosecutor."

During a phone conversation with police on Thursday, Alcorn said 15-year-old is from one of the Grosse Pointes but would not say which one

"I understand that racism has been around a long time but I felt we would’ve thought we would’ve progressed further, to where people, or whoever did, it would not overt back to these type of activities we’ve come too far for this," Wilson said.

As for possible charges that will be up to the prosecutor’s office. Wilson said the teen should be punished.

"It deserves some type of punishment. It’s something I would say we leave to the court system and with the parents involved," he said.