ATKINSON, N.C. (WECT) – A controversial sign is gone from a building in a small Pender County town. But it won’t be gone for long.

Rosey Milazzo said she was shocked when she spotted this sign in Atkinson. (Source: Rosey Milazzo)

The sign stated, “We must kill the white trash who hire illegal aliens.”UPDATE: NC town fights back against sign put up downtown calling for killings over illegal immigration

The banner was on a building on Church Street in Atkinson. Atkinson is a town of 321 residents. The sign has many of them outraged.

The man who put it up, Donald Sullivan, told one of our reporters that a man ran off with it.RELATED: Banner on building in small NC town calls for killings over illegal immigration

Sullivan said he will be replacing it shortly.

Sullivan ran for mayor of Atkinson in 2007. According to voting records, he lost the election, receiving only nine votes.