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Two Louisiana cops who suggested Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez should be shot in shocking Facebook post fired

Spurred by a fabricated news story by satirical website Taters Gonna Tate, Officer Charlie Rispoli of the Gretna Police Department shared a link to the article on his personal Facebook, saying the congresswoman 'needs a round.'
UPDATED JUL 23, 2019

GRETNA, LOUISIANA:  A Louisiana police officer was fired Monday after he suggested in a Facebook post that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez should be shot. In addition, another cop who apparently "liked" the update was also relieved of his duties.

Spurred by a fabricated news story by satirical website Taters Gonna Tate, Officer Charlie Rispoli of the Gretna Police Department in Gretna, Louisiana shared a link to the article on his personal Facebook on Thursday, writing alongside, "This vile idiot needs a round and I don't mean the kind she used to serve."

Rispoli's loaded comment took note of Ocasio Cortez's former job as a bartender and implied the congresswoman should be shot, NOLA reports.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez holds an immigration Town Hall In Queens on July 20, 2019, in New York City.(Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Angelo Varisco, a fellow officer, 'liked' Rispoli's Facebook post before it was taken down on Friday soon after the story grabbed headlines. According to WWL-TV, Gretna Police Chief Arthur Lawson described the post as "disgusting" and "disturbing" during a Monday press conference.

"The officer, I spoke to him personally just to try to find out why. I just couldn't understand," Lawson said. "I think he just got caught up in the moment. This wasn't even a real news article."

The police chief added that both officers had never served as patrolmen and were working court security. Lawson now plans to have the rest of his department undergo social media training. While the distasteful post was removed on Friday, July 19, shortly after the story broke, Rispoli went on to delete his Facebook account over the weekend.

The fake news story mocked Ocasio-Cortez and her thoughts on the budget, false quoting her saying that soldiers get paid too much.

U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) pause between answering questions during a press conference at the U.S. Capitol on July 15, 2019, in Washington, DC. (Getty Images)

Rispoli was with the department since 2005. However, Lawson maintained the officer's post appeared to violate the department's social media policy. "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," the police chief said.

The controversy surrounding Rispoli came just days after President Trump suggested freshmen congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and Ayanna Pressley, aka "The Squad", should "go back and help fix the totally broken and crime-infested places from which they came."

RELATED TOPICS NEW YORK NEWS ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ
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