The Delray Beach Police Department is currently investigating Shatara K. Shatara, an off-duty PBSO deputy who shot and killed his own son last week. But don't expect to see any updates about the case on the department's Facebook page -- every statement related to the case has been removed from the social media site.
Ever since news about the shooting broke on Christmas Eve, the Delray Beach PD had been posting updates with minimal information about the shooting. The department even answered concerns from one Facebook user, who questioned why an arrest was not made.
But late Monday afternoon, the posts vanished and not a word about the shooting remains on the Facebook page, which is now devoid of information except for traffic updates, feel-good status updates and news stories, as well as a few crime alerts and mug shots of people who have been arrested and booked.
One of the removed posts insisted that the Delray Beach PD is treating the Shatara shooting investigation like any other case. One Facebook user challenged that notion, which prompted a response from the department that suggested the user's comments were "based in hate and ignorance of the law" and probably a result of it being "popular to hate the police right now."
See also: Delray Beach PD Quiet on Info About PBSO Deputy Who Killed Son, Urges Public to Wait for Facts
Here are the removed posts:
New Times reached out to the Delray Beach PD to ask why the posts were removed, but we haven't heard back.
The removal of updates about the shooting, which claimed the life of 21-year-old Khamis Shatara, comes at a time when information about the killing has been hard to get out of the Delray Beach PD. Spokesperson Nicole Guerriero did not release the name of the deputy who pulled the trigger until two days after the killing. And it wasn't until Monday that Delray Beach PD said deputy Shatara was not arrested but only briefly detained.
The PBSO says deputy Shatara is on paid administrative leave during the investigation.
And that's about all we know about the incident, which was not in the line of duty and was immediately considered a "domestic dispute" by police.
Meanwhile, the Delray Beach PD claims to have its own problems with people who allegedly attempted to incite a riot. According to the Palm Beach Post, a crowd of about 70 people "got aggressive" with police Saturday night.
According to arrest records on the Delray Beach PD website, one man was arrested on charges of inciting or encouraging a riot, another was arrested for intimidating a law enforcement officer, and two more were busted for assaulting an officer.
Earlier this month, a man was arrested for inciting a riot by yelling, "Police should be shot!" during a situation where police were attempting to detain another man.
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