Police in Rhode Island say they’ve confirmed that videos of a person walking around a town in a Ku Klux Klan robe and hood were part of a hoax for social media, not the work of an organized group.

Social media videos appeared to show the person walking around West Warwick while dressed in white robes and a pointed hood. The incident happened on Main Street at around 2 a.m. Monday, according to West Warwick police.

Detectives have since learned that the event was a stunt orchestrated by two brothers “to generate attention on social media and in the news,” police said on Facebook. The perpetrators admitted their involvement to police and “provided conclusive evidence” that they were the only ones responsible for the hoax.

The individuals “explicitly denounced” affiliation with hate groups, and police said that the investigation has yielded “no evidence to suggest otherwise.” For now, the investigation has been closed.

“The West Warwick Police Department would like to thank members of the community who came forward with information,” police said. “Thorough investigations such as this often rely on community involvement, and we appreciate the public’s cooperation and assistance.”

Video captured by Ryan Fitzgerald showed the hooded figure wandering around the Arctic Gazebo before heading down the street. Fitzgerald told The Boston Globe that he thought the person was “just messing around” but noted that it was indicative of broader issues.

“There’s a lot of undisclosed racism that goes on here. I hear about it all the time,” Fitzgerald told the Globe. “So it wouldn’t be shocking to me if it wasn’t a prank, and it wasn’t a hoax, and it was really somebody that really was about that kind of life.”

Rhode Island House Speaker Joseph Shekarchi visited Newport on April 27 as the keynote speaker at a panel discussion about the need to develop more housing on Aquidneck Island.

Shekarchi was joined by Middle­town Town Administrator Shawn Brown, Raytheon government relations and site executive Tim DelGuidice, and NOAA relocation project manager Matthew Hill.

On an island where the largest employers are Naval Station New­port and the U.S. Naval Undersea Warfare Center, and over 20,000 people work in defense-related jobs, the need for workforce housing is a particularly acute component of the crisis. A report published by the Greater New­port Chamber of Commerce said Newport and the surrounding re­gion need to build 6,000 to 9,000 housing units to keep up with workforce demand.

NOAA broke ground in 2024 at the future home of its Marine Op­erations Center-Atlantic base on a five-acre site on Naval Station New­port, and the $150 million project is scheduled to be completed in 2027. Hill said upwards of 250 fed­eral employees and their families will be relocating to Rhode Island after their current base in Norfolk, Virginia, is closed and NOAA’s new facility at Naval Station Newport is completed.

“That provides justification for these developers to go out and secure funds,” said Hill. “You have 250 people coming here for cer­tain, with stable incomes, so these developments can start to move forward.”

Shekarchi spoke about the adaptive reuse bill signed into law by the state legislature three years ago, which was intended to make it easier for municipalities to convert old hospitals, factories and schools into housing.

“There’s a lot of municipal land, a lot of municipal buildings that could be converted into housing, that for whatever reason has been resisted by local communities,” he said.

The Oliphant and Green End proposals voted down by the Middletown Town Council in 2024 would have been such adaptive reuse projects. Shekarchi did not explicitly mention those proposals, but he suggested the Newport Jai Alai site, which he described as “desolate” in its current state, could be ideal for mixed-use commercial and residential development.

“There is so much opposition in all of our communities,” Rep. Michelle McGaw told Newport This Week. “I don’t think people recog­nize that it’s their children, it’s their grandchildren, people who grew up here and want to stay here and raise their families here but cannot afford to do so.”

“We’re not only looking at people at 80 percent of Area Me­dian Income (AMI); there is a huge gap between what people are earning and what they can afford.”

Rhode Island AMI is approxi­mately $112,000. So, a one-person household earning about $65,000, 80 precent AMI, would qualify for affordable housing.

DelGuidice said Raytheon’s workforce, especially its younger employees, would benefit from new development on the island.

“In five years, I’d love to see that we’ve closed that gap of 9,000 units, and we’ve got more of our employees able to live closer to work and not have a 45-minute or hour-long commute,” he said.

Stressing Aquidneck Island’s need for housing across all income levels, Brown highlighted Middle­town’s approach of purchasing 6.2 acres of land in order to de­velop 36 middle-income housing units across the street from town hall. However, he said 36 planned new homes is a fraction of the island’s collective need, and he highlighted the importance of the island’s municipalities, the Navy, and private industry cooperatively maintaining and improving the island’s infrastructure in order to be able to build new housing de­velopments.

He pointed to Middletown and Newport’s cooperative efforts on wastewater management as an example of the unseen infrastruc­ture work necessary to maintain and expand the island’s housing supply. He cited shared island in­frastructure as a critical area where state support is necessary in order to create new housing stock.

“We’re land-restricted, and we have a lot of conservation ease­ments on Aquidneck Island, which is another challenge,” Brown said. “It is going to be these areas that are either infilled or redeveloped. That is where additional housing is going to come from, and we are going to need that wastewater management capacity in order to do a lot of these developments.”

“The speakers today were very strong on the fact that we need all kinds of housing, not just higher income or middle income,” Rep. Lauren Carson told Newport This Week following the meeting. “We really need to address the broader issues here. I have confidence that policymakers, myself, the speaker and city leaders across the island know what has to happen.”

The Rhode Island Lottery offers multiple draw games for those aiming to win big.

Here’s a look at April 29, 2026, results for each game:

Winning Powerball numbers from April 29 drawing

03-19-35-51-67, Powerball: 15, Power Play: 2

Check Powerball payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Numbers numbers from April 29 drawing

Midday: 1-3-6-5

Evening: 8-2-7-2

Check Numbers payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Wild Money numbers from April 29 drawing

15-18-28-31-35, Extra: 03

Check Wild Money payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Millionaire for Life numbers from April 29 drawing

05-10-17-21-42, Bonus: 02

Check Millionaire for Life payouts and previous drawings here.

Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results

Are you a winner? Here’s how to claim your prize

• Prizes less than $600 can be claimed at any Rhode Island Lottery Retailer. Prizes of $600 and above must be claimed at Lottery Headquarters, 1425 Pontiac Ave., Cranston, Rhode Island 02920.
• Mega Millions and Powerball jackpot winners can decide on cash or annuity payment within 60 days after becoming entitled to the prize. The annuitized prize shall be paid in 30 graduated annual installments.
• Winners of the Millionaire for Life top prize of $1,000,000 a year for life and second prize of $100,000 a year for life can decide to collect the prize for a minimum of 20 years or take a lump sum cash payment.