A local special education teacher has been placed on paid administrative leave after soliciting the assassination of newly appointed Justice Brett Kavanaugh on social media.

Samantha Ness, a teacher at Alliance Education Center in Rosemount, faced instant backlash after threatening Kavanaugh on Twitter over the weekend.

“So whose [sic] gonna take one for the team and kill Kavanaugh?” Ness tweeted.

Twitter uses were quick to call out the concerning tweet and identify Ness as a local teacher with Intermediate District 917 which offers students needing “low incidence special education services” to member school districts in the southeastern Twin Cities area.

According to the staff directory, Ness works the district’s Students With Unique Needs (SUN) program. The program works with students with autism spectrum disorders, developmental cognitive disabilities, and emotional behavior disorders.

Shortly after being called out on the threat, Ness deleted the tweet and attempted to scrub her social media footprint, de-activating both her Twitter and Facebook. However, a plethora of screenshots remain from social media users, including a web archive of her post.

The school responded to the uproar on Monday. Superintendent Mark Zuzek released a statement indicating the school was investigating the situation, saying the employee had been placed on paid administrative leave.

“Over the weekend, the district has received a complaint regarding an employee. The employee has been placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation,” Zuzek said in a statement.

Alpha News reached out to the school district for comment, but did not receive an immediate response. This story will be updated as we receive more information.

Update:

The school released a statement on Tuesday saying Ness had voluntarily resigned. Zuzek clarified some of the concerns that surfaced, saying tweeting did not occur at the school and no school devices or equipment were involved in the incident.