ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. -- City crews were out in St. Augustine on Monday morning working to cover up the spray-painted images some vandals left on the walls and streets of the oldest city.

Whoever vandalized the city left behind strange sayings and a recurring picture of an assault rifle with a line through it.

Some frustrated business owners told Channel 4 similar incidents have happened before in St. Augustine and are not at all uncommon.

The graffiti messages scrawled on the walls of the city said things like, "Wake up," and "The youth are starting to change."

Symbols of a gun with a line through it, handprints and peace signs were included in the mass of blue graffiti that littered the city.

Restaurant manager John Pedaggi said graffiti happens often.

"We walk along the building and there's some little graphic. What we do is have a maintenance guy working for me full time. We just go ahead and paint over it right away," Pedaggi said.

Early Monday morning, city crews cleaned up as much of the graffiti as possible.

"It's not that big of a deal. We always cover it up and be done with it; but it seems like it's always the same and always happens at night time," Pedaggi said.

"We've had stolen bikes. We've had some vandalism in the front of the store and the back. (It's frustrating) absolutely and it looks terrible," said Surf Shop employee Nicole King.

In the past, police have said the culprits of the vandalism could only be held accountable if he or she is caught in the act. Nonetheless, anyone with information that could help police identify the culprits is asked to call the St. Augustine Police Department