LEE COUNTY, Fla. -- A social media comment in the aftermath of a mall fight in Fort Myers is creating a firestorm online, but the woman claims it wasn't her that made the comment.
The social media comment in question came in response to a video posted Sunday night showing a fight between several people in Edison Mall in Fort Myers.
The video quickly began to go viral in Southwest Florida, but one comment on the video stood out to some. And it has to do with the comment's connection to law enforcement.
A comment on the video, posted under the name Linda Deverso-Pakulis, used a racist term and urged that we send the fighters "back to Africa."
At a press conference Monday, Undersheriff Carmine Marceno said the post appeared to be from the Facebook page of a spouse of a Lee County Sheriff's Office employee. However, Marceno says it "appears that that post was the result of a hacked Facebook account."
He says that LCSO is conducting an internal review of the incident.
"The Lee County Sheriff's Office finds these comments to be disgraceful, hurtful, and completely unacceptable," says Marceno.
We've discovered that the account in question now goes under another name, and a post on the account on Monday morning claimed the following:
"Late last night someone posted under my name comments regarding an altercation that took place at the Edison Mall. As a result I notified Facebook that my account was compromised and I deactivated the account at that time. I am appalled about the comments that were made, neither I nor my family share these beliefs. As a result of this, after today, I will be removing myself from social media. Linda Deverso-Pakulis."
