Shot-Up Image of President Draws a Secret Service Inquiry
PHOENIX — The Secret Service said Thursday that it was looking into a photograph posted on the Internet that showed a group of young Arizona men posing in the desert with guns while holding up what appeared to be a bullet-riddled image of President Obama’s face.
The photograph showed seven casually dressed young men, four of whom clutched weapons and one of whom held up a T-shirt covered with small holes and gashes and bearing a likeness of Mr. Obama above the word ‘HOPE.’ The weapons held aloft appeared to be a revolver, a bolt-action rifle and two assault rifles.
‘We’re aware of it, and we’re conducting the appropriate follow-up steps,’ said Ed Donovan, a Secret Service spokesman in Washington.
The photo, along with the remark ‘Another trip to the ranch,’ was posted on Jan. 20 on the Facebook page of Sgt. Pat Shearer, a police officer in Peoria, Ariz., a Phoenix suburb. The image was removed from Sergeant Shearer’s page on Thursday afternoon shortly after inquiries about it to the Peoria Police Department. Sergeant Shearer, a decorated officer who was honored in 2007 for helping to save a driver trapped in a burning vehicle, did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday.
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