Rep. Ocasio-Cortez confronted Acting Homeland Security Secretary McAleenan about images of her "violent rape" from a secret Facebook group. USA TODAY
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WASHINGTON – A Louisiana police officer last week said in a Facebook post that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a "vile idiot" who should be shot. 
A screenshot of the post by veteran Gretna police officer Charlie Rispoli was taken by The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate. In it, Rispoli shares a blog post that falsely claims the New York Democrat said "We pay soldiers too much." 
"This vile idiot needs a round," reads Rispoli's remarks above Ocasio-Cortez's image. "And I don't mean the kind she used to serve," he adds, referring to her prior career as a bartender. 
Gretna Police Chief Arthur Lawson said the post was "disturbing" but did not believe Rispoli, who has been with the department since 2005, intended it as a genuine threat, The Times-Picayune reported. 
"I will tell you this: This will not go unchecked," Lawson said, according to the newspaper. "I’m not going to take this lightly and this will be dealt with on our end. It’s not something we want someone that’s affiliated with our department to make these types of statements. That’s not going to happen."
The Gretna Police Department did not immediately respond to USA TODAY's request for comment.
Rispoli's post comes amid mounting concern for elected officials' safety in an increasingly rancorous political climate. 
In June 2017, a man opened fire on a group of Republican members of Congress during their baseball team's practice in Virginia. Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisana was severely injured in the attack. 
Last week, Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund told lawmakers "we continue to see the threat assessment cases we're opening continue to grow."
In May, Ocasio-Cortez said she was regularly getting "hateful messages" and a "flood of death threats." She said there was a connection between the threats and the reporting about her on conservative news media outlets and also blamed Fox News. 
On Thursday, Ocasio-Cortez, a fierce critic of the Trump administration's immigration policies, questioned Homeland Security head Kevin McAleenan over threatening messages directed at her – including Photoshopped images depicting her rape – on a secret Facebook group for Border Patrol agents. 
AOC to DHS chief: Border agents shared 'Photoshopped images of my violent rape' in secret Facebook group
'This puts me in danger': Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez blames GOP groups for death threats
Ocasio-Cortez is one of four Democratic congresswomen, known as "the Squad," who have been the target of sharp criticism from President Donald Trump. Trump has said Ocasio-Cortez and Reps. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., and Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., "hate our country." 
The president has also suggested that the four congresswomen of color, all of whom are U.S. citizens and three of whom were born in the U.S., should return to their countries of origin and fix the problems there before trying to make legislative changes in the U.S.