SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - Some residents picking up trash in a City Heights neighborhood were met by a disturbing sight and an ominous warning near a homeless encampment.
Blocks from an elementary school on Fairmont Avenue, Matt Armstrong and a friend collected more than seven bags of trash in a culvert near the small encampment Wednesday. The next day, he and his friend were at it again, when they saw it. In front of a tent and hanging from a limb was a noose and a handmade sign inches away.
"It says, 'Trespassers will hang by the heads,'" said Armstrong.
Armstrong, a black belt, wasn't intimidated, but the warning is one he takes seriously.
"Something like this sends a message that they will hurt you. There are no rules. It's disconcerting," said Armstrong.
The safety issue becoming more prominent the last few years as more and more local residents have reported to 10News about encounters with aggressive transients. Unwilling to back down, Armstrong ventured back into the brush, where several homeless told him the transient who hung the noose wasn't there.
"They told me it was a joke, but it's not funny to me. People should not feel unsafe in their own neighborhood," said Armstrong.
Armstrong also filed a complaint about the noose with the city. We reached out to city officials but have yet to hear back.
