Authorities are searching for two white males after surveillance video caught the pair leaving Confederate battle flags on the grounds of Martin Luther King Jr.'s church on Thursday, according to the Associated Press.
This is not the first time Confederate flags have been placed at this site.
Four flags were found at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta and it's believed that they are meant to send a message of hate, according to Reuters.
Controversy over the use of the Confederate flag was ignited in June when a gunman who toted the symbol shot and killed nine African-Americans at a weekly Bible study at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal, according to Newsweek. The Confederate flag was later removed from statehouse grounds in South Carolina, according to Fox News.
At a press conference, Ebenezer's senior pastor Rev. Raphael G. Warnock said, "This is the same as placing a swastika on the campus of a Jewish temple. Whatever the message was, clearly it is not about heritage, but about hate," according to Reuters.
Atlanta Police Chief George Turner assures that his agency is working with federal authorities, though he is not sure what charges the pair will face if caught. A hate crime charge has not been ruled out, according to the AP.
The flags were placed under a banner that read "Black Lives Matter, heads up," according to Reuters.
