Racial epithets and hate symbols greeted members of Evergreen Presbyterian in Suwanee when they went to church Sunday morning.

Vandals had spray-painted the church van, pavement, the dumpster and basketball goal, sometime after midnight on Saturday, said Chris Ku, an associate pastor of the Korean church. When Evergreen's youth minister left the church around 11:30 p.m. Saturday night, everything was fine, Ku said.

VINO WONG/AJC (ENLARGE)

Vandals spray-painted racial epithets and hate symbols on the minivan belonging to members of the Evergreen Presbyterian Church in Suwanee. The church of over 450 members is on Main Street in Suwanee, near the public library and Playtown Suwanee.

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"Everybody's just kind of shocked about this graffiti," Ku said. "Our church has been here for 10 years and nothing has ever happened like this."

The church is on Main Street in Suwanee, near the public library and Playtown Suwanee.

Suwanee Police Spokesman Captain Clyde Byers said police were called around 10 a.m. on Sunday, "just as people were heading to church." They found upside down crosses, Nazi signs, the anarchy sign and other distasteful things, he said.

"I think it's more anti-social than anti-Korean," Byers said. "Kids are out of school, it's summer. But whoever did this knows some of the bad symbols."

The cost of repainting the van makes the vandalism a felony, Byers said.

Ku said the church is waiting to learn what insurance will cover before they remove the graffiti. He was upset that someone wrote "Jesus is dead" and "chinkmobile" on the van.

"Maybe it was teenagers trying to get an adrenaline rush," Ku said. "At least they didn't break anything."