JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Neighbors on the Westside are expressing their concern after waking up to a fence spray-painted with the words ISIS and what they think was Arabic writing scrawled underneath.
Residents said that it happened between Sunday night and 6 a.m. Monday.
The culprits spray-painted a fence that borders Cedar Hills Elementary School as well as spray-painting two other words on nearby property.
While neighbors think it might be kids, they want officials to take it seriously.
"There wasn't a lot of kids in the neighborhood until about a couple years ago, about three or four years ago, and that's when I noticed that all the stuff started getting destructive and stuff like that," resident Katie Quintern said.
In the 10 years that Quintern has lived across the street from the school she said she's never experienced a threat like this. She said Sunday night started with her dogs barking and then by 6 a.m. she spotted the graffiti tags.
She said it was troubling to see the words ISIS in big red letters with what looked like Arabic writing underneath.
"That's kind of crazy. Like that's not even something to joke about. That's an actual issue that shouldn't be joked about. And definitely not on a school. That's taken too far," Quintern said.
News4Jax Crime and Safety Analyst Gil Smith said that if caught, the person who made the tag could face criminal mischief charges because they're defacing property.
He also said that if the writing was found to be affiliated with a terrorist act, the investigation would be handled by the school since it is technically school property.
"With that being sprayed on school property, the school board police department would do an investigation. They also work closely with the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, so they may share that information with them. They'll also be responsible for the cleanup and any other type of investigation that goes on," Smith said.
Neighbors said they are not taking the tag seriously, but since the most recent ISIS attack on Paris that claimed more than 100 innocent lives, they want something to be done and are hoping officials find the person behind it.
"There are threats going towards America and I think that we should be doing our best to keep everything bad out of here. People lost their lives and they're still losing their lives and it's not a joking matter," Quintern said.