STAFFORD COURTHOUSE, Va. (AP) — A black man seen wearing a Ku Klux Klan robe and hood at a Virginia shopping center Tuesday told sheriff’s deputies that he was performing a social experiment, according to authorities. The Stafford County Sheriff’s Office was called to a Target store at the Stafford Marketplace around 2:30 p.m. to investigate reports of someone wearing the costume, Maj. Shawn Kimmitz said in a video statement posted to social media. Deputies found the person in the robe, identified him as a black man and determined he didn’t live in the area, he added.

#HappeningNow: This afternoon, we responded to reports of a subject wearing a KKK outfit at the Stafford Marketplace Target. Deputies made contact with the subject who claimed he was conducting a social experiment. He was warned on wearing a mask in public & left the scene pic.twitter.com/Vm77fZmAXy

— StaffordCoSheriff (@staffcosheriff) February 11, 2020

Deputies warned him about wearing a mask in public and he left the scene, Kimmitz said. Virginia law prohibits wearing masks with the intent to conceal identity in public. A photo posted to Twitter by a witness at the shopping center showed someone dressed in the white robe and hood talking to deputies while others looked on. The sheriff’s office didn’t identify the man.