People who live at the Colony Park Apartments in suburban West Palm Beach woke up Monday morning to find one of the buildings vandalized with racial slurs.
The building, residents say, is occupied by mostly African-American families.
One of the messages told residents to "get out."
Renter Curtis Daley Jr. said he noticed the vandalism when he came home Monday morning from working an overnight shift.
“I never thought in my 26 years of being on this Earth that I would come home one day and I would see the 'N' word splattered all over my community,” Daley Jr. said.
Residents say law enforcement responded to complex, located on Belvedere Road, and eventually covered the spray paint with a fresh coat of paint.
Daley Jr. says most of the tenants of the building have young children.
“Imagine when all these families come out, and their kids are coming down the stairs, this is the first thing that they see.”
Shonda Sanders, a nine-year resident, says it makes her feel less safe at home.
“I came out and I was like are you kidding me?”
“We have the fear of, you know, sending our kids outside. If someone has hate toward them, what could they possible do to them?” Daley Jr. said.
They want their complex to invest in security cameras, and hope law enforcement will find the vandal.
“You see this and it’s like they’re trying to force you out. But they’re not going to force us out. If anything, it makes us want to stay more.”