LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The flashing lights were signaling a message of love in Morse code, but they spelled out something alarming to some passers-by who saw them in Lincoln’s Haymarket district.

Incandescent lights had been set up on the third floor of one building and the fifth floor of another nearby, with switches synchronized so a Morse message could be sent. It’s all part of a public art piece by Jamie Burmeister, of Omaha.

He says the message is “LUV U.” But some people who called police or businesses in the buildings thought the message was an SOS sent by people in trouble.

Burmeister says he should have done better promotion of his work in order to avoid the confusion. “Message Matters” is the work’s title.