Police say a wave of graffiti hit two north Charlotte apartment complexes Wednesday night.

The graffiti includes gang tags that investigators say contains a hidden message: a violent, notorious gang may be moving in.

The tags bear the name Sur 13, a violent Latin gang police say is responsible for robberies, break ins, and trafficking drugs.

“By putting signs like that, they are trying to tell people that this is our area, stay away from it,” Officer Rene Quiles said.

Two buildings at the Maple Run apartments, a fence, and the back of a building at the North Point apartments were all tagged by Sur 13.

“This is an indication that we gonna have some gang members mark there territory,” Quiles said.

One woman who lived at North Point, Alma, told us she's terrified that the gangs are active where she lives.

“They rob, they commit many crimes,” the woman said.

Police thought they had forced gangs out of both these apartment complexes.

That’s why they are so worried now, and so quick to make sure the graffiti comes down before it's followed by violence.“You have another gang member … and then they're going to cross over it, and put their mark in there, and the next thing you know, you gonna have fights in there,” Quiles said.

The tags, after all, are all about messages: one from the gangs, and another from police.

“We're not gonna stop until we find out who did all this,” Quiles said.

Officer Quiles said late tonight that he has arrested one juvenile suspect for the tagging. He says one more arrest is possible.