Following racist attacks on members of The Squad by President Donald Trump and his supporters, a police officer in Louisiana reportedly said that one of the congresswomen of color should be shot.
Trump has been lashing out at the four first-term congresswomen, who include Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI).
“A Gretna police officer posted a comment on his Facebook page this past week calling U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez a ‘vile idiot’ who ‘needs a round, and I don’t mean the kind she used to serve,’” NOLA reported Saturday.
“The comment, which alludes to the freshman Democrat’s past work as a New York City bartender while apparently saying she should be shot, comes amid increasing scrutiny of racist and violent social media posts by police officers in departments across the country,” NOLA added.
The officer, Charlie Rispoli, has been on the force since 2005.
“I’m not going to take this lightly and this will be dealt with on our end,” Chief Arthur Lawson said. “It’s not something we want someone that’s affiliated with our department to make these types of statements. That’s not going to happen.”
The comment was in reference to a fake story with a fabricated quote attributed to Ocasio-Cortez.
“Whether you agree or disagree with the message of these elected officials and how frustrated you may or may not get, this certainly is not the type of thing that a public servant should be posting,” Chief Lawson said.