A Minnesota teacher who incited violence against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh resigned from her position Tuesday, according to her employer.
Samantha Ness, a special-education teacher with the state’s Alliance Education Center, threatened to “kill Kavanaugh” on Saturday after the newly-confirmed judge was sworn in.
“So whose [sic] gonna take one for the team and kill Kavanaugh?” she tweeted, but later deleted both her Facebook and Twitter accounts.
Her employer, Intermediate School District 917, announced Monday that Ness had been placed on “paid administrative leave” pending an investigation after receiving several complaints. In a Tuesday press release, Superintendent Mark Zuzek revealed that Ness “has voluntarily resigned” from her position with the school district and “therefore is no longer employed by Intermediate District 917.”
“The actions of the employee did not occur at school, and there were no school devices, equipment, or other school staff involved in the actions. At no time were students or staff in danger,” Zuzek continued, saying he cannot elaborate further due to Minnesota’s “Data Practices Act.”
The Minneapolis FBI Bureau is aware of the incident and told KARE 11 that it is currently looking into the matter. The Dakota County Sheriff’s Office also reported that it is aware of Ness’ comments, but is “not currently investigating any incidents” it “believes to have happened at the school.”
According to KARE 11, Ness is also any employee of Granite City Food and Brewery, which expressed concern over her remarks and took appropriate “action” against her.
Before deleting her Twitter, Ness attempted to justify her claims by suggesting that “Brett Kavanaugh will be dealing with death threats for the rest of his life being on the Supreme Court.”
Ness, however, is not alone in her hostility towards Kavanaugh. In fact, a “kill Kavanaugh” hashtag is currently trending on Twitter, and is even a top search suggestion on the site.
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Anthony Gockowski is managing editor of The Minnesota Sun. Follow Anthony on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
