High School Hate Crime Suspect Is Victim's Mom

Racist graffiti ended Mass. school's football season
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 6, 2013 12:06 AM CST
Updated Dec 6, 2013 4:19 AM CST
High School Hate Crime Suspect Is Victim's Mom
Lunenberg High School's football team is off the hook, police say.   (YouTube)

A bizarre twist in the hate crime that caused a Massachusetts high school to end its football season early: Police now suspect the person who spray-painted racist graffiti on the home of 13-year-old Isaac Phillips was the boy's own mother, the Boston Globe reports. Andrea Brazier, who is white, was described as a "strong suspect" in the case after cops confiscated cans of spray paint during a search of the home she shares with husband Anthony Phillips, who is black. Investigators say most of the leads they have followed in the case have led back to the house—and Phillips has given conflicting explanations of where the aerosol cans police spotted in a fire pit came from.

During the initial investigation, Brazier changed her story several times and then stopped cooperating with investigators, according to an affidavit obtained by CBS. She told police and an FBI agent that she wanted the investigation to end and when they suggested she was the culprit, she said "OK," adding that police did not understand. She denied that her husband and son had any involvement, the affidavit states. Members of Lunenberg High School's football team had been considered the likeliest suspects, and the school called off their final games after nobody came forward to take responsibility. (Click for more on the case—Isaac Phillips also had his bike tire slashed, and more.)

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