Racist texts received in Colorado investigated by FBI, Denver police

DENVER ( KDVR ) — The Denver Police Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation's Denver office are investigating "offensive and racist text messages," the agencies confirmed with FOX31 on Tuesday evening.

Details on when the text messages were received, who received them and when were not provided. Denver police said the agency's bias-motivated crimes unit is investigating two incidents.

'Selected to be a slave': Racist texts sent to Black Americans in multiple states

"Additionally, we are in contact with state and federal partners to verify information or connections to possible similar incidents of this outside of Colorado," the Denver department told FOX31.

After the election on Nov. 5, the FBI and other agencies reported investigations into racist text messages sent to individuals in several states, including New York, California, Alabama, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Tennessee.

They generally used a similar tone but varied in wording.

Some instructed the recipient to show up at an address at a particular time "with your belongings," while others didn't include a location. Some of them mentioned the incoming presidential administration.

It wasn't yet clear who was behind the messages and there was no comprehensive list of where they were sent, but high school and college students were among the recipients. It's also unclear whether the messages received in Colorado are related to those received in other states.

The FBI said it was in touch with the Justice Department on the messages, and the Federal Communications Commission said it was investigating the texts "alongside federal and state law enforcement."

"As always, we encourage members of the public to report threats of physical violence to local law enforcement authorities," the FBI Denver told FOX31.

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Children across the country reported receiving racist text messages that directed Black and other minority students to report to a "plantation" or said they were "selected to pick cotton."

Nick Ludlum, a senior vice president for the wireless industry trade group CTIA, said: "Wireless providers are aware of these threatening spam messages and are aggressively working to block them and the numbers that they are coming from."