Ottawa Police have charged three teenagers after racist and offensive graffiti was found sprayed on children's play structures, vehicles and homes in Old Ottawa East.

Residents in the area bound by Lees Avenue, Chestnut Street, Springhurst Avenue and Main Street woke up Sunday morning to find their neighbourhood vandalized and sprayed in red paint. Police say the damage occured around 1:00 a.m. Sunday morning.

"I came out and saw it and thought oh great," said Meiz Majdoub, a resident near Sprinhurst Park whose home was tagged. "Are you kidding me? But , like I said, it is what it is."

By mid-morning, neighbours had scrubbed off much of the paint, which included sprayed swastikas and the N-word.

"It's really dissapointing and really weird, even shocking" said Wynne McGee-Harris. "I know that that kind of hatred, that there is a lot of it, but it's kind of weird to see it so close to home."

Police have charged 18-year-old Connor Hutcheson with one count of mischief to property over five thousand dollars.

19-year-old Thomas Gagnon-Jones is charged with one count of mischief to property over five thousand dollars.

A third person, a male young offender who cannot be named because of his age, is charged with one count of Mischief to Property under five thousand dollars and one count of assault with intent to resist arrest.

The investigaton is on-going.