CRIME, POLICE + COURTS
Racial slur found at Facebook construction site in Eagle Mountain
Nov 8, 2021, 4:46 PM | Updated: Dec 29, 2022, 12:00 pm
FILE: Graffiti found in November 2021 at a Facebook construction site in Eagle Mountain. Someone wrote "Kill a n----- day 11-29" inside a port-a-potty at the construction site. In March, the construction company said it became aware someone left a noose at the site, but they did not say where. Photo: Utah County Sheriff's Office
EAGLE MOUNTAIN, Utah — A racial slur was found Monday morning at the Facebook construction site in Eagle Mountain, along with what appeared to be threatening language, police said.
The site already hosts a functioning data facility for Facebook, but construction continues on a 900,000 square foot expansion.
A worker discovered the slur written inside the door of a portable bathroom on the Facebook construction site, said Sgt. Spencer Cannon, spokesman for the Utah County Sheriff’s Office. He added a reward is offered for information leading to the person who wrote the slur.
Slur discovered inside port-a-potty at Facebook construction site
“The Facebook people were very concerned about it and they called a meeting with all the workers,” Cannon said. The company sent its workers home for the day.
He said the slur — “Kill a n—– day 11-29” — makes a reference to what may be the date of Nov. 29.
“Whether or not somebody has actual plans to do that or not, we don’t know. But it’s a concern enough that we’re looking into it and seeing if we can identify a person,” Cannon said.
He added that the only people who have access to the site are the workers but they number more than 1,300. Cannon said it is “extremely unlikely” that someone other than one of the workers could have entered the construction site.
“We believe that it’s probably unlikely that somebody intends to carry out a threat or follow through on a statement like that. But we have to consider the possibility that somebody might intend to do that,” he said.
Cannon added that investigators will look into the possibility that the slur may constitute a hate crime.
“It’s disheartening to think that somebody would have those thoughts, let alone would express them — and then even worse — to express them in writing,” he said.
***Correction*** The construction project on the Facebook data center in @eaglemtncity is ongoing and is still under the control of Mortensen Construction. They discovered the racial slur and reported it and posted the $50,000 reward for information identifying a suspect. https://t.co/2iUXTVth88
— Spencer Cannon (@SGTCannonPIO) November 9, 2021
