Because of the language used in one of the locations, the incident is being investigated as a hate crime.
On Saturday morning, Mike Sussman's child found offensive graffiti spray painted on his garage. The violent language targeted the Jewish heritage of the Sussman family.
Sussman told News 2's Liz Crawford that the biggest struggle has been helping his children cope with the ordeal.
"Dealing with what they're going through, sleepless nights for them, they're terrified that someone is going to harm them and as a parent, my job is to protect them, so there's some concerns there", Sussman said.
Gloria Bauman's garage was also vandalized. Although the language was offensive, there was no obvious threat of hate or bias unlike Sussman's garage. Bauman, however has been in a bi-racial marriage for thirty years. The Baumans feel like they might have been a target.
"My gut instinct is that we were a target but I hate to say we were targeted because of race", added Gloria Bauman.
Both Sussman and Bauman said the Reedy Fork neighborhood is quiet and folks tend to get along.
According to Greensboro police, the hate crime investigation is underway however police have not yet determined if the incident meets the criteria of a hate crime.
"When you have any type of indication that it could possibly be there because of race, sexual orientation, ethnicity, or religion, you have to take the investigation a little bit higher and little bit further", Captain Mike Richey of the Greensboro Police Investigative Bureau told News 2.
Police indicated that vandalism suspects tend to be young people or teenagers. Sussman and Bauman believe teenagers are behind the vandalism, which they fine most disturbing.
Sussman said, "To think that there's folks that are teaching the next generation that level of hate, that's almost more terrifying."
Gloria Bauman agreed. "If you people did it, that kind of hatred started from home because otherwise the younger generation is different"
News 2 spoke with Wendell Phillips, Chairman of the Greensboro Human Relations Commission about the clarification between hate crimes and vandalism. Phillips said that a hate crime targets a specific individual or group based on their perceived membership to a specific group.
"A hate crime, which is also known as a bias-motivated crime, can target an individual or group.
If an individual or group is targeted because of his, her or their perceived membership in a certain social group - usually defined by race, color, gender, ethnicity, national origin, religious belief, sexual orientation, disability, age, or gender identity - it qualifies as a hate crime.
Throughout history, hate crimes have run the gamut from vandalism to assault, personal injury and murder", explained Phillips.
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