When former Army sniper and Iraq War veteran Livio Waits noticed that someone keyed his truck on Thursday morning, he was understandably annoyed. As he inspected the damage, however, Waits had the wind knocked out of him by the hateful message scrawled on the blue paint.

MURDERER

Waits told KVVU that his shock was so absolute, he couldn’t even process what he was looking at.

“You know, when I first saw it, it was hard to wrap my head around it,” Waits said. “My mind went blank. When you look at it, it’s so hard to actually accept that it’s real.”

Waits served as a Army sniper for 10 years, and his license place indicates that he is a military veteran. Waits told reporters that he suspects that his license plate tipped off the vandal to his military status. Whether the vandal was against the Iraq War or simply detests veterans is unclear.

Waits filed a police report. The incident is currently being investigated by local authorities.

“I’m not easily offended,” Waits said. “I don’t get messed up too easily, but this one hit me pretty hard.”