Cleveland EMS Captain Fired for Facebook Post Saying Tamir Rice "Should Have Been Shot"

The post also called Rice a "little criminal."

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It's been a little more than a year since 12-year-old Tamir Rice was shot and killed by police in Cleveland, Ohio. And although new evidence suggests Rice may have had his hands in his pockets at the time he was shot, the officer who fired the shot that killed Rice will not face charges. But Rice's death remains a controversial topic in Cleveland, and this week a Cleveland city employee was fired for a Facebook post saying he wish he'd killed "the little criminal" Tamir Rice himself. 

"Tamir Rice should have been shot and I am glad he is dead,” the post read, according to the New York Daily News. "I wish I was in the park that day as he terrorized innocent patrons by pointing a gun at them. I am upset I did not get the chance to kill the little criminal (expletive)." It appeared on the Facebook wall of Jamie Marquardt, an Emergency Medical Systems captain. Dan Williams, a spokesperson for the city of Cleveland called the posts "egregious" and told newspaper The Plain Dealer that "the posts were not acceptable and do not represent the views or standards of the City of Cleveland administration, Department of Public Safety or Division of Emergency Medical Services."

However, Marquardt is insisting he's innocent; a follow-up post on his Facebook wall said someone "picked up [his] phone and made some awful posts under [his] name," and he told the Daily News, "I did not do it. I presented evidence to the city of Cleveland that I did not do it. They fired me simply because it was on the news."

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