A special education teacher in Minnesota has been placed on paid administrative leave following a tweet over the weekend that appeared to encourage followers to kill new U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
The teacher has been identified as Samantha Ness, a paraprofessional at the Alliance Education Center in Rosemount.
https://twitter.com/juanwidnofeet/status/1049307433523458048
The offending tweet read, “So whose (sic) gonna take one for the team and kill Kavanaugh?”
Ness tried to backtrack with a subsequent tweet: “Brett kavanaugh will be dealing with death threats for the rest of his life being on the Supreme Court. I doubt my mid-west ass is a real threat”
Tweets from a Minnesota special education teacher calling for someone to kill Justice Kavanaugh. pic.twitter.com/HdtcVtRqLd
— Beth Baumann (@eb454) October 8, 2018
Ness deleted her Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram accounts after her tweet on Saturday created an uproar, but not before dozens of Twitter users captured the Tweet and shared it with the FBI and Secret Service, according to the Star Tribune.
A spokesman for the FBI in Minneapolis told the Trib that the bureau was aware of the tweet, although as of Monday afternoon, the teacher had not been charged with a crime.
Mark A. Zurek, superintendent of Independent School District 917, wrote on the district’s website that Ness was placed on paid administrative leave “pending the outcome of the investigation”:
Over the weekend, the district has received a complaint regarding an employee. The employee has been placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.
Pursuant with the data practices act, we are limited to providing additional information regarding this matter.
Ness posted her ill-considered tweet hours after Kavanaugh was sworn in as Supreme Court justice after weeks of contentious confirmation hearings.
Prior to deleting her Twitter account, Ness’s bio read, “I don’t even know what I’m upset about,” according to Heavy.
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