2 Livermore churches vandalized with hate speech

LIVERMORE, Calif. (KGO) -- Livermore police have special patrols out at night after vandals targeted two local churches. It happened at a Mormon Church and a Lutheran Church, both on Mocho Street.

The graffiti has been painted over at the Mormon Church. One of the leaders says the campus has been tagged before, so they dealt with it pretty quickly.

"Got graffitied and we cleaned it up and that was the end of it each time," Kurt Alexander from the Church of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints said.

The Livermore Police Department is taking this situation very seriously, even devoting special patrols. That's because the Mormon Church and the next door Lutheran Church have been spray painted several times in the last few days.

"Some of the tagging was derogatory, comments about the church, about heaven, about God," Livermore police Officer Traci Rebiejo said.

The most offensive symbols were swastikas and pentagrams were quickly painted over. The vandalism is being investigated as a potential hate crime, which is a felony. One neighbor says he keeps an eye on the churches across the street.

"We did notice, I think on the night that it occurred, the motion detector going on and off over there. So I'm not sure if it happened then or what," neighbor Scott Burklan said.

Another neighbor told ABC7 News it took hours to clean up some of the paint.

"They're out there scrubbing sidewalks and painting the walls," neighbor Jason Clouser said.

Leaders at the Mormon Church just installed new lights to help deter any future vandalism.