Many people in Guilford are upset to learn someone spray painted anti-Asian American racial slurs on a home near the town green.
Guilford Police are investigating and community leaders are organizing a response to the racist vandalism.
Judy Cordes has called Guilford home for more than 40 years.
"Well, its very friendly, open, comfortable place to live," Cordes said.
Cordes was shocked, like so many people in the shoreline town, to learn about the racial slurs.
"I don’t understand it," she said. "It sounds horrible, and I hope that the authorities find out who it is and stop it because this isn’t that type of community."
Members of the community learned about the vandalism from a Facebook post by Liza Janssen Petra’s husband after he spotted the slurs on an early morning run Tuesday.
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"He was sickened, because it’s our community and that kind of language is not tolerated," Petra said.
Just last week, NBC Connecticut reported on vandalism at the Roses for Autism sensory garden in Guilford.
"There has been in Guilford and Guilford is not unique to this, a number of incidents that have caused alarm," Petra said.
In her role as the Guilford Foundation's executive director, Petra reached out to the local Anti-Defamation League (ADL) to organize a response from community, business and education leaders.
"Have a conversation about how do we address and what can we do within each of spheres of influences to make sure it doesn’t happen again," Petra said.
For longtime resident Cordes, she said she hopes this can be a teaching moment for children in camps and next fall in school.
"Whatever goes on," Cordes said. "They should talk about it."
