Prayer vigil held at Loudoun Co. shopping center that was vandalized with racist graffiti

SOUTH RIDING, Va. (7News) — A prayer vigil began at 7 p.m. on Monday at the South Riding Shopping Center in Loudoun County following racist graffiti in the area.

RELATED | Kids turn hateful graffiti at Loudoun County shopping center into messages of love, hope

Watch the vigil here:

On Sunday, community members began to clean up the graffiti that included several racist words, LGBTQ slurs, antisemitic symbols, and more that were on display for multiple days.

Some of the children who came to clean up brought some sidewalk chalk and scratched out the hurtful words, slurs and symbols and turned them into something different.

Another person brought his power washer to clean up some of the graffiti and allowed the kids to take turns using it.

“The current environment is very tense and that’s why we need to show up for people and show up for Black people, Jewish people, Gay people -- everyone that is dealing with this kind of hate right now,” said one community member. “We need to show up as a community and show each other love.”

The Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office is continuing to investigate the incident.