The St. Louis County police were taking heat Thursday morning for social media postings about a fatal police shooting not in Ferguson, Missouri, but in Cleveland.
The county police department tweeted out (and later deleted) a post from the City of Fenton Precinct’s Facebook page titled “Kids will be Kids?” that commented on the death of Tamir Rice, a black 12-year-old who was shot last month by a white Cleveland police officer who mistook his toy gun for a real weapon.
Here’s the Facebook post on Tamir Rice, just in case @stlcountypd did take it down pic.twitter.com/zq0hWPRzpr
— Elias Isquith (@eliasisquith) December 4, 2014
“This article is not about this a boy losing his life, whether this was a justified shooting or, whether the cops acted too fast,” the post, which has also since been removed, read. “This is about the Fenton Precinct making residents aware of a ‘hot’ topic and learning from this incident so Fenton never loses a child’s life.”
The post goes on to advise parents to talk with their children who have toy guns about the importance of knowing how to respond should a police officer approach them.
“If the type of gun is in question by the witness, the Police will respond as though it is a real gun until it can be confirmed one way or the other … the police will respond lights and sirens and come to a screeching halt in the area where your child is playing with the gun,” the post continued.
Asked by a Guardian reporter whether the post was inappropriate, a St. Louis County Police Department spokesman identified the officer who wrote the post but said he hadn’t read it:
Asked if @stlcountypd thinks Tamir Rice tweet/FB post was inappropriate, dept. spokesman paused, claimed: “I haven’t even read it”
— Jon Swaine (@jonswaine) December 4, 2014
The @stlcountypd tweet/FB post on Tamir Rice was written by police officer Aaron Dilks, he tells me. I asked if he regretted it. He hung up.
— Jon Swaine (@jonswaine) December 4, 2014
