Bright orange signs warning people that Twin Cities police startle easily appeared at two St. Paul intersections on Sunday.

The “Twin Cities Police Easily Startled” sign shows a figure in a police uniform with legs spread and firing a gun in each hand.

The signs were found at Snelling and University avenues and at Oxford Street and University Avenue. Police notified St. Paul Public Works and they removed the signs Sunday afternoon. An identical sign also turned up in Minneapolis.

Addy Free said he snapped a photo of the Snelling and University sign just before noon Sunday on his way home from work and posted it on Facebook. He said he was one of many pedestrians and transit users who took notice.

“The message is too true,” Free said.

He said police are given a huge responsibility, but he feels they don’t get sufficient training “to root out the implicit racial and other biases we all learn in the U.S.”

Free’s posting on Facebook has been shared more than 22,000 times. His image and others also were shared on Twitter, Reddit and other social media platforms Sunday.

“I hope the artist’s work going viral has amplified the call for truly powerful civilian review boards across the metro and country,” Free said.

The signs were taken down because “people are not allowed to hang up signs, whether political or community based, on the right-of-way,” said Joe Ellickson, St. Paul Public Works spokesman.

The signs come on the heels of two officer-involved shootings this month in Minneapolis, leading to the resignation of Minneapolis Police Chief Janee Harteau on Friday.

On July 8, a uniformed officer responding to a burglary alarm shot and injured two dogs in a fenced yard in North Minneapolis.

A week later, on July 15, Justine Damond was shot dead by a Minneapolis police officer after she called 911 to report a possible sexual assault behind her home.

Damond’s relatives in Australia have hired lawyer Robert Bennett, who represented the family of St. Paul native Philando Castile.

Castile was fatally shot by the officer during a 2016 traffic stop in Falcon Heights seconds after he told the officer he was armed. Officer Jeronimo Yanez, who is Latino, was acquitted this year of manslaughter and two lesser charges.

Jaime DeLage contributed to this report.