A 15-year old Chicago boy is in tears after seeing a drawing he made go from being positive to being accused of representing Chicago gangs.

The teen (who remains unnamed because he is a minor) won a contest where people were asked to submit designs for Chicago's next city sticker that would be placed on cars throughout the city.

His design, titled "Chicago's Heroes," featured a heart themed after the Chicago flag colors, with hands reaching towards helmets and logos honoring Chicago's police, paramedics and firefighters. The design won the contest after citizens voted his was better than the rest.

He was praised by city clerk Susana Mendoza, who even went as far as to call him a "rock star."

But then, blogs and Facebook posts emerged, saying that the design could be gang affiliated. Writers of the posts said that the hands in the design resembled a gang sign. Alerted, Mendoza looked into the matter with assistance from police gang experts and within days decided to pull the sticker.

"I don't think that's fair. I tried the best I could," the boy told WGN-TV reporters, with eyes full of tears. "That art design has nothing to do with no gangs. Nothing. No violence, no nothing. I did the best I can. I don't know why they smashed me like that."

"You've got the hands ... configured in such a way that are very similar to a particular gang's hand sign. So that's one part," says former Chicago Police Superintendent Jody Weis. "If you look a little bit back — imagine yourself 10 feet away from this — you've got a couple of hands in a position that could be viewed as horns. That's another symbol of this particular gang."

Mendoza who made the final decision says that she felt bad about it, but simply could not afford the bad PR or potential embarrassment.

"For me, as the clerk, it's not an issue of the individual at all, frankly," Mendoza says. "It's an issue of the perception that's now out in the city of Chicago and, frankly, nationally, that we have a city sticker that some experts believe may provide symbolism related to gangs."

Chicago readers, tell us, does this look like a gang affiliated design? If so, which gang is this?