Authorities in Benton County are looking for some suspects who targeted a teenager. It happened in the small town of Alsea and appears to be a hate crime.

Just after eleven o’clock Saturday morning Summer MacLean made an unexpected discovery in her front yard. Laying in some tall grass, charred and recognizable, was a cross, and MacLean is convinced it was burning all night.

“Ever since it happened, or I found it, you’re in a daze kind of. It’s a shock,” said MacLean, who believes her African American son was the target. “

He’s a very beautiful, special child. And to see your child go out and pick it up and look at it and I told him to put it down and he said, I don’t care,” added MacLean.

But neighbors are far less forgiving. “I just think it’s stupid, somebody looking for attention, those kinds of things are from the 50s and 60s,” said neighbor Alan Whitmyer. Others think a judge should throw the book at the suspects responsible, and if not, “the community will run them out, period. It’s too small of a town,” added Aaron Schneider.

The town is now ready to stand up for its neighbors, no matter what their skin color. “Prejudice is the height of stupidity and I truly believe that,” said MacLean.

If you know anything about this case you are urged to call the Benton County Sheriff’s Office.