DELTONA, Fla. – A military father told Volusia County police that he was in tears after finding a hateful note on his car.
The Deltona man has a sticker on his car that reads "My son is a Marine." When he came out of Walmart after shopping on Friday he found a note that read: "F*** you and your son I hope he dies," according to the Volusia County Sheriff's Office Facebook page.
Lewis Alexander said the sticker has been on his car for two years and nobody had previously disapproved of its message.
"They spoke their mind, my son defends those rights," Alexander said. "My son is probably going to sit there and say, 'Let it go dad.' We're very proud of our son, me and my wife both. He's worked very hard in his life to be where he's at."
Lewis said he was in and out of the store in less than 15 minutes.
"The fact that they physically did that tells me they have a lot of problems in their life," Alexander said.
It wasn't until he was driving home that the words written in the note sank in and he called the Volusia County Sheriff's Office to report it. Deputies posted the note on their Facebook page and it flooded with community support.
"I was very angry," Alexander said. "I was very upset. I cried. When I first showed (my wife), she cried, and when we saw the Volusia County Sheriff they posted that, we cried."
Deputies said the wording of the note wasn't against the law because it wasn't a direct threat. But that doesn't change how Lewis views its meaning.
"My father served, you know, for 32 years," Alexander said. "I just respect anybody who does that and when you mock that, you're mocking everybody that's a true American citizen and a patriot. I'd say they need a lot of growing up."
Deputies said they posted the photo in support of the military. Alexander said he wants Walmart to release surveillance video so he can see who stuck the note to his windshield. But Walmart is not releasing the video because it's not considered a crime.
The Volusia County Sheriff's Office responded with a message for him that read:
"To this man in Deltona, to anyone who's served or is serving our country, and to all the families who sacrifice precious months and years with a loved one: THANK YOU and your son, daughter, husband, wife, relative or friend for what you've given us. We hope each and every man and woman comes home safe, although we know our world is not a safe place, and not everyone gets that homecoming. Our families are veteran families, too. We can't put a note on every windshield, but we can say it here: We respect you, we support you and we're here for you at home."
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