Two electronic construction signs in Norcross were tampered with this week to display racially-tinged messages to oncoming traffic.
Gwinnett County police were called to a construction project at the intersection of Old Norcross and Ingram roads Wednesday after a Department of Transportation official reported two programmable message boards had been altered to show incorrect information and a racist epithet.
The signs read “Send the n*****s north” and “Ebola outbreak ahead,” according to a police report.
Police said the message boards were tampered with sometime between 5 p.m. Tuesday and 7 a.m. Wednesday. They were quickly changed Wednesday morning after DOT officials arrived at the construction site and saw them.
A DOT official told Gwinnett police that the boxes housing the computers and keyboards that control the electronic signs were not locked Tuesday night. Although the technology is relatively easy to use, the official said “some level of familiarity by the suspect was likely,” according to the report.
As of around noon on Wednesday, no witnesses had come forward and no suspects had been identified by police.
Gwinnett County spokesman Joe Sorenson told WSB Radio the contractor has taken additional security measures to prevent future illicit alterations to signs.
