2 Louisiana police officers fired over Facebook post suggesting Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez should be shot

Officer Charles Rispoli wrote in the post last week that Ocasio-Cortez is a "vile idiot" who "needs a round...and I don't mean the kind she used to serve." Gretna Police Chief Arthur Lawson told reporters Monday that Rispoli -- along with Officer Angelo Varisco, who "liked" the post -- had been fired.

"This incident, we feel, has been an embarrassment to our department," he said.

Gretna is across the river from New Orleans.

Ocasio-Cortez responded to Rispoli's post, which was first reported by The Times-Picayune-New Orleans Advocate, by tying the language to President Donald Trump's recent racist attacks against her and three other congresswomen of color.

"This is Trump's goal when he uses targeted language & threatens elected officials who don't agree w/ his political agenda. It's authoritarian behavior," she tweeted Monday. "The President is sowing violence. He's creating an environment where people can get hurt & he claims plausible deniability."

CNN was not able to reach Rispoli for comment. The Gretna Police Department and The Louisiana Fraternal Order of Police did not return CNN's calls for comment.

Rispoli's Facebook post was in response to a satirical article that featured Ocasio-Cortez saying, "We pay soldiers too much" -- something the congresswoman hasn't said. It's unclear whether Rispoli knew he was responding to a satirical article.

Lawson said Monday the Facebook post "violated our policy, it was in a nature that certainly was not supported by our agency and, promoted violence."

The police chief also added: "I spoke to him personally just to try to find out why. I just couldn't understand and I think he just got caught up in the heat of the moment," he said. "I mean this wasn't even a real news article."

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