Anne Arundel Police Worker Suspended After Racial Facebook Post

MILLERSVILLE, MD — An Anne Arundel County Police Department employee has been suspended for a social media post that appears to make light of a Bowie State student's murder, authorities say. The employee, who was a department recruit, is Welby Burgone, who works in the Communications Section.

Burgone posted a photo of a crab with a knife in its claw, a reference to the stabbing death of a black college student who was visiting the University of Maryland. The attacker was a member of a white supremacist group on Facebook, and authorities are investigating if it was a hate crime, according to reports. Police have charged Sean Christopher Urbanski, 22, of Severna Park of stabbing Richard Collins III, 23, who was set to graduate from Bowie State University this week.

Police supervisors were notified of an inappropriate Facebook post Monday about Collins' homicide, a post Burgone reportedly made. Within hours of being made aware of the comment, the department's Professional Standards Unit began an investigation which resulted in Burgone's suspension.

The social media post was "extremely insensitive and appeared to be racially motivated," police said in a statement. They shared a screenshot of the image, with profanity and racial slurs blacked out:

“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,” Chief Timothy Altomare said in a statement.

Burgone's Facebook page was not public on Tuesday and no Twitter feed was found for him. Patch will update with any comment Burgone makes.

The Baltimore Sun reports that Urbanski warned Collins, who had just been commissioned as an officer in the Army on Thursday after four years in the ROTC program, to "step left, step left if you know what's good for you" based on charging documents. Collins reportedly refused, and Urbanski stabbed him in the chest.

Initially, police didn't think race had anything to do with the attack, but that changed when they found out Urbanski was a member of a racist Facebook group called "Alt-Reich Nation."

University Police Chief David Mitchell said that they learned of the Facebook group on Sunday.
"When I look at the information that's contained on that website, suffice it to say that it's despicable, it shows extreme bias against women, Latinos, persons of Jewish faith and especially African-Americans," Mitchell said according to the Sun.

»Screenshot of controversial Facebook post courtesy of Anne Arundel County Police