The Anne Arundel County, Maryland, police suspended civilian employee Welby Burgone after a racist comment was made on Facebook about the murder of University of Maryland student 2nd Lt. Richard Collins III.
Collins was stabbed to death early Saturday morning and police have charged University of Maryland student Sean Christopher Urbanski with first- and second-degree murder, according to the Baltimore Sun.
Urbanski's social media exploded with comments, including one from Burgone, who is also a classmate of Urbanski's from high school. Burgone, who worked in the department's communications, was responding to another comment from a friend of Urbanski's.
"F*ck yeah Sean!!!!!" the other man posted over a photo of a screen capture of a screen shot released by police, The Sun said
"That's what happens when n***ers try and get frosty with an OG! Talk sh*t, get stabbed lol," Urbanski replied.
Burgone then replied with an image of a crab holding a knife saying, "You mess with crabo You get stabo."
Police Chief Timothy J. Altomare said that the post was "extremely insensitive" and agreed that it appeared to be racially motivated.
"The actions of this employee are a betrayal of the values of the Anne Arundel County Police Department. Any employee who espouses or supports hateful or racist ideology will be held accountable and we will not allow the public's trust in their police department to be eroded," Altomare said in a statement.
The comment violated the department's Professional Standards and as a result, he was suspended. According to The Sun, both Burgone and Urbanski appear to have graduated in 2012 from the same high school.
