Spokane County Sheriff’s Office disables Facebook comments after deadly shooting, citing threats and hate speech

The Spokane County Sheriff’s Office (SCSO) is turning off public comments on its Facebook page after a shooting left one deputy dead, another fighting for his life, and the agency facing a wave of vulgar language, threats, and hate speech online.

The decision comes as the department grieves the loss of one deputy and prepares for the possible loss of another following a shooting at a home outside Spokane that left three people dead, including the suspected gunman, and three others injured.

Sheriff John Nowels said one of the injured deputies remains hospitalized and is essentially on life support. He is not expected to survive.

The shooting also left another deputy injured. The sheriff’s office has not released additional details about their conditions.

“Both of our deputies are fighting for their lives. Both have very young families, both have two very young children each,” Sheriff Nowels said. “A lot of the questions I have about why, what caused this, why did this person do this. We don’t have answers to.”

Spokane County Sheriff’s Office shuts down Facebook comments after threats

The sheriff’s office said its Facebook page became a target for vulgar language, threats, and hateful comments following the shooting.

“While the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office fully supports the Constitution and the First Amendment, it also believes in the importance of maintaining civility and decorum on a social media page that is easily viewed by children, young adults, parents of young children, people of faith, and others who do not want to be subject to inappropriate content,” the sheriff’s office said in a post on its Facebook page. “This includes but is not limited to vulgar language, swear words, and/or vitriolic speech, all of which may be protected by the First Amendment but can be inappropriate or offensive to some of our [SCSO] Facebook page users.”

In response, the agency has disabled all public comments on its page.

“Ironically, those who call for ‘transparency’ or ‘open government’ seem to be the ones who cannot tolerate opposing views on issues and feel the need to respond with vulgar and profane words,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement on Facebook. “Thus, effective immediately, no further posting of comments will be permitted on the SCSO page, and old comments will also be removed.”

The public can still view posts and updates about crimes, investigations, and other law enforcement activity, but users can no longer comment or debate those issues directly on the department’s page.

The decision effectively ends public discussion in the comments section, rather than having the agency selectively remove individual posts.

First Amendment questions surrounding government Facebook pages

The move also raises questions about the First Amendment and how government agencies can moderate public comments on official social media accounts.

The sheriff’s office said it supports free speech but argues it cannot legally filter individual comments simply because they contain profanity or offensive language without potentially exposing the agency to litigation.

Rather than risk selectively removing comments, the department has chosen to shut down the comment section altogether.

“The courts have yet to provide clear limitations on what a public agency can limit on its page,” SCSO stated. “Until the courts develop a clear test or direction on defining what can be limited, SCSO remains unclear if it can hide or even filter any post, word, phrase, or even profanity without risking a First Amendment lawsuit, even if that lawsuit is ultimately found in favor of SCSO.”

The distinction matters because official government social media pages can be subject to constitutional protections governing public expression.

For now, the sheriff’s office will continue using Facebook to communicate with the public, but without allowing public comments.

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