Authorities say Eddie Curlin, an African-American man, was acting in "self-interest," not politically, when he allegedly spray painted racist messages at Eastern Michigan University last year.

That's the only explanation so far for why a black man would spray paint racial slurs including the "n-word," and "KKK" on three separate occasions in the fall of 2016 and spring of 2017.

Police say they caught the 29-year-old after an intensive investigation that included more than 60 interviews and viewing 1,200 hours of video from campus cameras.

Curlin attended EMU from 2014 to early 2016. Curlin is in prison currently on an unrelated charge of receiving stolen property.