The New York City Police Department this week posted a photo on its X account of two officers loading United Health CEO shooting suspect Luigi Mangione onto a plane that transported him from Pennsylvania to New York.
However, many of the NYPD's followers informed the department that they did themselves no favors with the photo op, as they said it only made Mangione into more of a sympathetic figure.
Right-wing activist and diehard Trump supporter Laura Loomer, for one, slammed NYPD for making Mangione look glamorous in its photo ops.
"Why is NYPD trying to make Luigi Mangione look like a celebrity?" she asked. "This is going to inspire copy cats. Not good."
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Progressive commentator Benjamin Dixon was similarly shocked by the NYPD's apparent ignorance of optics.
"Do the morons organizing this kabuki theatre realize they're making him a legend with all of their antics?" he wondered.
A similar observation was made by journalist Jenna Wortham, who predicted that NYPD's post would become a case study in how not to handle high-profile criminal defendants.
"This perp walk is not doing what yawl think it is (the fervor/romanticization of this case will be studied for ages to come)," she wrote.
Defense attorney Mark Bederow, meanwhile, said that photo showed the NYPD needed to "read the room" and realize they weren't doing themselves any favors.
"Every move the state officials are making (including charging decisions and social media posts) is favorable to the defense!" he warned.
Comedian Stacy Cay merely observed that "NYPD is really doing everything they can to make this dude look cool as hell," and the pseudonymous cyber security expert SwiftOnSecurity also chimed in to say, "Stop posting f------ bangers of this guy what is going on."