‘I was just shocked’: Black Turlock family finds burned fence, racist slur
A racial slur spray painted across from the burned fence of a Black family’s home in Turlock is being investigated as a hate crime, police said.
Terresa Rolland and her family woke up around 2:30 a.m. Friday to loud banging at the front door of their Turlock home. It was their neighbor alerting them that their backyard fence was on fire.
The fence abuts the alleyway off of Wayside Drive behind her home so she went there to get a closer look.
Her fence was destroyed, leaving the back of her home exposed, but even more disturbing was the word spray painted on the fence directly across from hers: The N word.
“I was just shocked,” said Rolland, who said she is African American. “We’ve been on that street for 20 years and I have never seen anything like that before.”
Rolland said she’s never before experienced racism in Turlock and was, ”still just trying to grasp everything that is going on. That is definitely not a way to wake up and start your Friday morning.”
The graffiti reportedly showed up on the fence within the last week, according to Turlock Police Sgt. Mike Parmley, but officers are still investigating if the fire and graffiti are related.
Rolland said she’d never seen it before and she accesses the alley often to get to her cousin’s apartment on the opposite side.
“I think that it is kind of ironic that that word was put on the fence and only our fence was burnt up,” Rolland said. “Is it a coincidence? I don’t know.”
It was the second fire of the night in that area and both are considered suspicious, Parmley said.
The earlier fire was in a dry field off the south end of the alley at 12:44 a.m. The cause and origin of both fires remain under investigation.
Katherine, the neighbor who alerted the family of the fire, said she’s lived near them for almost a year and that she was angered and saddened by what happened.
“Everyone loves them, they don’t have any problems with anyone. I don’t know why anyone would do this to their house, especially with children … there were three sad, confused, tired children walking out of that house wondering what the heck was going on,” said Katherine, who declined to give her last name.
The alley is part of the border of a county pocket: Rolland’s fence is in the county and the fence with the racist word is in the city.
Parmley said because the fire was on the county side, the police department wasn’t notified when the incident occurred.
After reading about it on social media later in the morning and going to the scene, Parmley said he dispatched officers there to investigate.
Rolland said one bright spot is the outpouring of support she’s received since posting about the incident of Facebook.
She said people have sent well wishes and offered to help clean up and rebuild the fence.
“It’s amazing to know there are still good people in this world,” she said.
The Turlock Police Department asks that anyone with information call Officer Martin Marquez at (209) 668-5550 extension 6761. You can also contact the Turlock Police Department’s Tip Line at (209) 668-5550 extension 6780 or email at tpdtipline@turlock.ca.us.
This story was originally published September 25, 2020 at 2:26 PM.
