Florida deputy fired over social media posts

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Officials say a Florida sheriff’s deputy has been fired for social media posts that made racially-charged remarks about former first lady Michelle Obama and blamed Muslims for a mass shooting.

The Palm Beach Post reported Saturday that Jason Van Dusen was terminated as a Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office deputy. Van Dusen, a deputy since 1998, had been suspended once before for offensive social media posts.

The posts that led to Van Dusen’s firing includes one on Twitter displaying a photo of Michelle Obama next to one depicting a “Planet of the Apes” character. In another Twitter post from December 2, 2015 – the day 14 people were shot to death in San Bernardino, California – Van Dusen wrote that the U.S. has a “Muslim problem” and not “a gun problem.”