Tuesday morning, a number of Bishop residents and business owners awoke to find that someone had used spray paint to adorn their fences and walls with gang-related advertising.

MMS13, the tag for the Malditos Mexicanos Surenos, was written large in numerous locations in downtown Bishop. Small 13s could be seen on some stop signs.

Bishop Police Det. Dave Jepson reports that it appears Bishop has a budding gang problem. He says that some people in Bishop, including juveniles, are wearing gang related clothing and claiming allegiance to outside gangs.

Whether the gangsters are wannabes or the real deal, the police are taking note. Det. Jepson says gangs are like a virus, if you don’t get on them immediately, you could end up with a real problem. Gangs in the City of Bishop wont be tolerated, he says.

Exactly who did the graffiti job is not known, but investigations continue. In the meantime residents are left with the job of cleaning the graffiti off or covering it with a new coat of paint.

If you see someone tagging a wall, Jepson asks that you give the Bishop Police a call at 873-5866.