Fire and police agencies in Nashville, New Orleans, Toledo and Prince George’s County launched investigations and placed employees on leave after online comments about Kirk’s death

First responders and public employees in several cities have become the subject of investigations or have been placed on leave over social media posts reacting to the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

Kirk, a close ally of President Donald Trump, was shot and killed on Sept. 10 at a Utah Valley University event. Authorities say a single shot was fired from a rooftop before the gunman escaped.

The suspect in Kirk’s death was taken into custody on Sept. 12.

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Nashville Fire Department

In Nashville, Tenn., WSMV reported the fire department put an employee on paid administrative leave after a post circulating online appeared to reference Kirk’s death.

The department said it opened an internal fact-finding review and would not comment further while it’s underway.

Prince George’s County Police Department

Prince George’s County (Md.) Police Department confirmed an internal investigation into an officer’s social media post that read, “When you’re spewing hate, hate will eventually rear its head and find you….”

WJLA reported the department said the post may violate general orders governing employee conduct on social media. There was no immediate indication that the officer’s duty status had changed.

New Orleans Fire Department

In New Orleans, WDSU reported that the fire department said it is investigating after an employee appeared to mock Kirk’s killing in a social media comment.

Louisiana Attorney General Liz Merle called the remark “unacceptable and disturbing,” adding that invoking God in the message “was even more disturbing.”

Louisiana Rep. Clay Higgins vowed to use congressional authority and pressure on tech platforms to seek lifetime bans for users who mocked Charlie Kirk’s killing. In an X post, he praised Kirk and said he’d target posts that “belittled” the assassination.

Toledo Fire & Rescue

The Toledo (Ohio) Fire & Rescue is investigating a member over an alleged social media post about Kirk’s death, WTOL reported.

The department did not release details about the post, but comments on its recent social media pages claim a lieutenant wrote it and alleged Kirk was killed because of his political beliefs and affiliations.

What do you think about calling out first responders for their social media posts? Could it deepen division, increase scrutiny or even risk inciting violence against them?

FireRescue1 is using generative AI to create some content that is edited and fact-checked by our editors.

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