Alachua County Sheriff’s deputies are looking for a person suspected of spray painting a derogatory slur used against transgender people on a home garage.

Sheriff’s Sgt. Brett Rhodenizer said while patrolling the Newberry Oaks neighborhood in Newberry early Friday morning, deputies came across the vandalized home.

The slur was spray-painted in large, black letters and threatened the homeowners to "move or die.”

Rhodenizer said the vandalism occurred between 9 p.m. Thursday and 3 a.m. Friday morning when deputies alerted the homeowners, Alecia and Liz Abel.

Based on the words used in the threat, Rhodenizer said the case is being investigated as a hate crime.

He said investigators are still canvassing the neighborhood, talking with neighbors and requesting any possible camera footage, though the homeowners don't believe there is any.

He said the Newberry Oaks neighborhood is “full of good people,” and he hopes the person who wrote the message can come forward and take responsibility for it.

“Whatever their motivations were, the actions are criminal,” he said. “We’re looking forward to working with neighbors to get the person identified.”

Liz Abel said when she and her partner, Alecia Abel, who started identifying as female just three months ago, woke up to deputies at her door, she was startled.

“They said, ‘Are you aware of what is on your house?’ and I said, ‘Wait no, what’s going on with my house?” she said. “(The slur) covers 75 percent of our door. It’s huge.”

Liz Abel said the spray painting would have been more surprising if it hadn’t been for a sticky note left on the garage door earlier in the day.

“It said, ‘move or die,’ too,” she said. “Alecia took it, tore it up and threw it away. We woke up to the same message written in spray paint.”

Alecia Abel said she doesn’t feel the person who spray-painted the door will be caught because of lack of video footage currently, but she feels happy knowing there are people who support her.

She said neighbors have been offering to buy her dinner, paint the door and to install a camera she jokes she never got around to installing herself.

In addition to her neighbors, Jordan Marlowe, Newberry's mayor, reached out and personally apologized for the actions of whoever vandalized the door, she said.

Marlowe said the message written on the Abels' door did not represent the feelings of others in Newberry.

"When I called them, first and foremost, I wanted to know that they were safe. I have respect for ASO but I wanted to be sure they were taking the threat seriously and everything that could be done to ensure their safety was being done," Marlowe said. "I wanted to make sure they understood that there was no room in their elected representatives' hearts for this kind of behavior and message.

"It's disgusting and irreprehensible."

Liz Abel doesn’t have a clue who wrote the message, she said, but suspects someone must have become angry after seeing Alecia transitioning in her appearance.

She said she thinks whoever spray painted the slur feels “justified in their actions.”

“For the most part, I feel people fear what they don’t know and they choose to lash out to make themselves feel better,” she said. “They feel justified in their actions without recognizing their immorality.”