Natick police are investigating what they are calling a "bias event" after swastikas were found spray-painted on Department of Public Works signage at a popular trail in the town. 

Part of the Cochituate Rail Trail is closed down while the Loker Street pedestrian bridge is being removed. There are signs on the trail blocking people from going down the trail and redirecting them to a detour. 

Three signs vandalized

At 8 a.m. Monday morning, police were called to the trail when the vandalism was spotted. Swastikas were found spray-painted onto three of the DPW signs.  

"Would you be surprised if I said I was not surprised?" said Vidya Gopalakrishnan, an avid walker of the rail trail. "Nowadays people are very much, they are not scared to do those particular signs." 

Natick police say the town's Department of Public Works removed the vandalized signs after their investigators were done documenting the scene. The case has now been turned over to the Natick Police's Department of Civil Rights investigator. 

"It's terrible. I am glad they took it off. I hope it wasn't on there very long," said Karen Byrne, who owns a home along the trail. "The trail is very peaceful. Once in a while we do have a wild turkey or a giant tortoise, but swastikas are not a good thing to have."

Natick is about 10 miles west of Boston. The Cochituate Rail Trail is approximately four miles long in Framingham and Natick.