The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department said Monday that it would investigate reports of a man shopping in a grocery store last weekend wearing a Ku Klux Klan hood, a report said.

The incident occurred in a Vons in Santee, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.  A spokeswoman from the store said employees informed the shopper that he had to take the hood off or leave.  He eventually relented, removed the mask and paid for his items.

Lt. Ricardo Lopez, a spokesman from the sheriff’s office, told the paper that the department is looking into the incident as a possible hate crime. The image was first shared by Tiam Tellez, a resident, who posted on  Facebook, “So troublesome in so many ways this is still happening in Santee at Vons. Disgusting!”

The incident occurred a day after San Diego County began requiring face coverings in public, including when making trips to the grocery store, in an effort to reduce the spread of the coronavirus.

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On April 27, 2019, a 19-year-old gunman opened fire inside a synagogue in Poway, another San Diego County town, as worshipers prepared to celebrate Shabbat and the last day of Passover, killing a woman and injuring three others, including a rabbi.

Fox News’ Danielle Wallace contributed to this report