HALL COUNTY, Ga. — Gainesville police say they are looking into all leads on a church vandalism case involving racial slurs.
Monday, a crew installed security cameras on the side of First Baptist Church on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
“We’re not going to let anything or anybody runs us from this corner," Deacon Michael Leverett told Channel 2's Rikki Klaus.
The security uptick is in response to the racially-charged messages and symbols spray-painted overnight Friday on the 177-year-old church building.
Pastor Isaac Whitehead shared photos with Channel 2 Action News of the graffiti, which include images of "KKK" and "Blood #35." Police say the latter may be a gang symbol. Pastor Whitehead called the separate writing on the stairwell too vulgar and profane to share with the public. Gainesville police describe it as alarming.
“Doing stuff like that, they need Christ," said Deacon Leverett. “It’s just a shock. Why us, and why now?”
As of Monday afternoon, the graffiti was gone. The church’s neighbor, Piedmont Tractor and Equipment, first noticed the vandalism on Saturday morning and took action.
“As soon as we got the police report and everything they was Johnny on the spot to spray-wash the wall where the graffiti was,” Leverett said.
But Sunday morning, church members say they found a new message scratched into the sidewalk, similar to the message on the stairwell. The lettering is too faint to make out now. The church says rather than getting angry about the incidents, it will learn from them.
“We’re going to praise God, but we’re not going to be caught asleep," Leverett told Klaus.
In addition to the new cameras, Leverett says guards will be on the property in the future, and church leaders will meet Wednesday to discuss further safety options.