Lewis Alexander honored his brave U.S. Marine son by placing stickers on his and his wife Tami’s cars, proudly giving a shout out to their child’s service. They never would have expected that the stickers, reading

“Proud parent of a U.S. Marine,” would provoke hatred, however. When Lewis parked his car at a store, he returned to his vehicle to find that someone had left him a nasty note in response to the sticker.

He noticed the piece of paper on his windshield when he prepared to back out of the parking lot, stopping to see what it said. He couldn’t believe the words he read. A total stranger left a cruel note that left him in tears and prompted him to contact the police. Turns out that no crime was committed because the message didn’t include an actual threat, but the sheriff’s office did alert the public of this cruel note by posting about it on their Facebook page.

The note read: “F**k you and your son. I hope he dies.” The sherrif’s office wrote on Facebook, in part: “We can’t undo the message, and we almost hate to share it, but we decided we could use it as an opportunity to say thank you. Please join us. To this man in Deltona, to anyone who’s served or is serving our country, and to all the families who sacrifice precious months and years with a loved one: THANK YOU and your son, daughter, husband, wife, relative or friend for what you’ve given us. We hope each and every man and woman comes home safe, although we know our world is not a safe place, and not everyone gets that homecoming. Our families are veteran families, too.

We can’t put a note on every windshield, but we can say it here: We respect you, we support you and we’re here for you at home.”

Lewis said of the stranger who left the note, “wow, this person’s evil.” He added, “My son’s serving to protect that person’s right to do that and it really hit me, so l called the sheriff’s department…! was crying.” As for the sheriff’s department decision to post the note on Facebook with a message of thanks to those in the military, Lewis said, “I feel comforted, very much comforted.”

Tami told FOX35 that their son “wanted to make a difference in the world, and this was his choice” to serve in the military. Lewis did have a message for the stranger who left the note, telling the reporter: “If I could leave a note on their car, l’d probably say God bless you.”

The sheriff’s office received a flood of comments on their post, including one person who noted: “Whoever left this note should be found and publicly shamed. I don’t support the unnecessary wars the US has engaged in during the last 25 years or so, but I do support our troops. They put their lives on the line for us, and deserve our respect and thanks.”

Another commenter remarked: “I am grateful for people like your son, that he/they are willing and ready to protect and defend this country. Many thanks to the families who give up their loved ones so we can have the freedoms that our forefathers wanted for us. God Bless America!”