BAY POINT — Three homes of African-American families were hit with vandalism early Wednesday morning, including a spray-painted racial slur and what residents describe as a crude swastika drawing.

The as-of-yet unidentified vandal or vandals also threw a rock through two of the victims’ homes, injuring a young boy who was hit with shards of glass, according to one resident. A spokesman for the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s office said the case is being investigated as felony vandalism, not as a crime motivated by racism. But one of the victims said it’s clear to her that it was a hate crime.

The victims’ street is not being identified, to avoid possible retaliation, but residents describe the area as a cul de sac in Bay Point, off a main road. At around 1 a.m., resident Cas’sius McGill said she was awakened by the sound of broken glass. When she entered her living room, she realized a rock had been thrown through a front window.

“We looked at my trailer; it had the word n—–, and on the garage something similar to a swastika. The van was all spraypainted and covered,” McGill said. “My neighbor’s house just says, ‘Get out.’

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Photographs from the attack show a sloppily spraypainted cursive N-word, as well as a car that has been covered with spraypainted lines.

McGill said she doesn’t know who could have done it, but said the three homes that were targeted are also the only three homes in the cul de sac where African-American families reside.

“They had to be watching us for a while — there’s nine houses here — to know where the three black families were,” McGill said. “We’re all black, that’s the common denominator. … I have a car seat in my car; they know I’m a mother, and they don’t care about that. They were so angry that we were black, that motivated them to harm us.”

Sheriff spokesman Jimmy Lee said the case is not currently being looked at as a hate crime, but added that could change as the investigation progresses.

“Based on the preliminary investigation, this does not appear to be a hate crime. It is being investigated as a felony vandalism,” Lee said in an email. He asked anyone with information to come forward to police.

But McGill said it is obvious to her that the crime was motivated by racism, given the content of the graffiti. She said it’s not lost on her that this happened days after the Gilroy Garlic Festival shooting, by a man who had posted a picture of a neo-Nazi manifesto days earlier.

“Well, we’re all black, it says n—–, a swastika sign and ‘get out.’ I don’t understand how it’s not a hate crime,” she said. “I have three children … they’re afraid to go outside. We don’t know who’s trying to harm us, and it could escalate to something worse if (police) don’t treat it as it is, which is a hate crime.”

Under state law, a hate crime enhancement can be charged if somebody targets another person because of the victim’s gender, sexual orientation, race, disability, nationality or religion.

Anyone with information about the crime is urged to call the sheriff’s investigation division at 925-313-2600. Tips could be emailed to tips@so.cccounty.us; call 866-846-3592 to leave an anonymous voice message.