The Prince William County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement on Saturday on Facebook that officials were notified on Christmas Day about “disturbing comments being made on several social media outlets by a deputy sheriff.”
Aaron Hoffman, 44, has denied that he posted the comments but has been terminated after an investigation has concluded.
Hoffman was exposed by a freelance journalist who linked his social media accounts to chilling threats against public officials, and posted screen shots of his posts to Twitter.
The deputy’s “WeThePeopleWarrior” profile on Parler called for followers to find the homes of liberal judges and politicians and “remove them from their sanctuary.”
“Take back your State capitals,” the post urged. “Find the homes of every Governor, mayor, attorney general, liberal judge, senator, congressman and every major media/social media CEO…find them, remove them from their sanctuary. Bring the nightmare to where they lay their heads and kiss their loved ones. Show them that they are NOT untouchable.”
Hoffman denies posting the comments and says his account was hacked.
The person behind the WeThePeopleWarrior account also posted that he would become “insanely violent” if anyone tried to make him wear a face mask. Additionally, there was a threatening comment about former President Barack Obama, and a suggestion that the life of Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts “needs to be shortened.” Roberts has become a particular target recently of the extreme right wing because of his lack of action to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
An Arkansas police chief resigned last month after a Parler message calling for “death to all Marxist Democrats” was linked to him. Lang Holland, now the former police chief of Marshall, initially claimed his account had been hacked, but later admitted he had written the posts.
