SAN ANTONIO — Editor's Note: This story was updated on July 30 to reflect that another Bexar County deputy has been served with a proposed termination notice after a racist and violent social media post.
Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar on Thursday served a deputy with a notice of proposed termination after the deputy allegedly posted an image to Facebook which suggested rioters and looters should be killed.
Salazar said while Silva is allowed to appeal his proposed termination, he considers him fired from the agency.
"He's got an appeals process," Salazar said. "And ultimately, we'll see where that goes. But for now, I'm considering him terminated from the agency."
The Facebook post read: "Captain Rackham what's your opinion on those rioting, looting, attacking innocent people and burning the city down?" below the text is an image with of an actor which reads, "KILL THEM ALL."
"To me, it was very insightful of violence," Salazar said. "The very kind of violence that, quite frankly, that's what society's railing against right now -- is the thought of violence by law enforcement officers. And so the comments that were made to me were very insightful of exactly that kind of violence that's got us in this situation."
Silva isn't the only deputy to land himself in hot water over social media. The Sheriff's Office said another deputy who posted, "y'all should lynch mob his ass" was placed on administrative leave. Later, on July 16, records show, that other unidentified deputy was also served with a proposed notice of termination. It's currrently in the grievance stage.
"It's really following a pretty similar course to what Justin Silvas' case followed," Salazar said. "He's out on administrative leave while we conduct our investigation. At some point here in the near future, Internal Affairs will call him in and let him give his side of the story. But again, I've said it before, I'm pretty shocked by the language that was used. If you can't, especially in this day and age, figure out that there's just certain things you can't say, even if you claim to be joking about them, there's just no way that that can be justified. We'll see where ultimately that case goes."
On Friday, Salazar issued a comical but firm warning to deputies to be mindful of their social media posts. At the top of the email, Salazar included a meme which read "Not everyone that sends friend requests wants to be your friend, some are just 'surveillance cameras.'"
The sheriff wrote "What too many of us still fail to realize is that everything we post online is being scrutinized by the whole world right now. People who you think are your friends cannot wait to turn you in to Internal Affairs, your chain of command, or the news media. Before you even send it as a text or private message, ask yourself if it's something you'd be happy to be held accountable for on the 5 o'clock news."
Salazar said the agency has enough to handle with the COVID-19 pandemic and unrest throughout the nation, adding "stop contributing to it by putting things on social media that just make everything worse for everyone."
