People are stopping to stare at the writing scrawled on a garage door in Dunbar.
The spray paint spells "Dice," "KKK", and a profanity.
"You wonder if you're going to have a cross burning in your backyard," said Lisa Groves, of Dunbar, who lives near the garage. "Or you wonder if someone's gonna do some things to you."
Someone tagged a garage behind 16th Street in Dunbar. Groves said the garage formerly shared a parcel of land with a house that has since been demolished. Dunbar Police said they're unsure if someone still owns the garage.
Officers said they noticed the "KKK" and profanity tags on Saturday afternoon during a regular patrol.
The phrase "dice" had been sprayed on the building last year, but officers said they're unsure if the same person who tagged the word on several properties in Charleston last November also vandalized the property in Dunbar.
"I think it's wrong that someone could come and do this in the neighborhood and put such foul language when kids are walking around here and going to the local schools," Groves said.
But people said they feel more concerned about the letters "KKK" and the group it could stand for: the Ku Klux Klan, an organization historically tied to white supremacy.
"It kinda sends the message of it's not as safe as it seems in Dunbar and it's just really scary and they really need to watch out more because there's still racism," said A-nya Badger, of Dunbar."I know there is racism in Dunbar, but I didn't think it was so heavily acted upon they would actually put it in graffiti."
Others said the graffiti and their content don't bother them.
"If something did actually happen, people should look into that. But until then, they should just chalk it up to immaturity," said Daniella Broussard, of Dunbar. Broussard later admitted that she'd feel uncomfortable if someone tagged her house with the same words.
Police said no complaints have been filed and they have yet to open an investigation. They added that drug deals and vandalism had riddled the alley at one point--but they had received few complaints about crime over the past year.
Officers told 13News off-camera: "It's a goofy little game for gangsters. We might look into it if there's more of it. But it doesn't look like anything serious at this time."
Neighbors said the alley is usually quiet, but they're unsure what these signs mean for their safety.
"It's pretty quiet around here," said Louis Johnson, of Dunbar. "But five, four o'clock in the morning, you don't know what goes on."
A proposal passed in the West Virginia state senate last week suggests strengthening the penalties for graffiti offenses.
A first offense could be punishable with up to six months in prison and $1,000 in fines. On a third offense, graffiti would be deemed a felony and would be punishable by at least one year in jail, according to the Associated Press.
The bill will now be sent to the House for consideration before it would become a law.
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