TORONTO – The police department at the centre of the protests in Ferguson over the shooting death of Michael Brown is back in the spotlight after it weighed in on the fatal police shooting of a 12-year-old in Ohio who was holding a pellet gun.
The St. Louis County Police Department issued an apology Thursday afternoon for a Facebook post from earlier this morning that urged parents to talk to their children about handling realistic-looking pellet and toy guns.
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“This article is not about a boy losing his life, whether this was a justified shooting, or whether the cops acted too fast,” said the Facebook post referring to the Cleveland case of Tamir Rice who was killed by police on Nov. 22 while holding a realistic looking pellet gun.
The post titled “Kids will be Kids?” was linked to the police department’s Twitter and was sent out just before 9 a.m. Both the Facebook post and the Tweet have been deleted.
It prompted immediate and angry reaction on social calling the post “insanity” and “trivializing” the fatal shooting of Rice.
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St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar issued a statement that said “the post was a misguided communication strategy and was offensive to many people.”
“As Chief of Police, I apologize to Tamir’s family and anyone who was offended by the post,” said Belmar. “I realize the message was insensitive to Tamir’s family and the sorrow they are currently experiencing.”
He also said that due to the incident the social media policy of the police department has been changed “to prevent future occurrences.”
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The Facebook post comes just over a week after a grand jury in St. Louis decided against indicting Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson for killing unarmed teenager Michael Brown. The decision sparked protests across the U.S.
The author of the post has been identified as officer Aaron Dilks of the Felton precinct, according to the St. Louis Police Department.
In an interview with Mediaite, Dilks said his message was to educate the public so something similar would not happen in Fenton.
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