wings guy.jpg

A comment posted on Facebook by Charles A. DiRosa, left, is causing Chicopee police to seek a criminal complaint against him for making threats.

(Chicopee police photos)

CHICOPEE — Police will seek a criminal complaint in district court against a 27-year-old resident for threatening to commit a crime after police said he wrote the term "put wings on pigs" on his Facebook page.

The phrase is the same one that Ismaaiyl Brinsley used on Instagram just before ambushing New York police officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos on Saturday. The two officers were shot to death in their car, and Brinsley later committed suicide.

"In the eyes of every police officer in America today, 'Putting wings on pigs' is a threat," said Michael Wilk, Chicopee Police Department spokesman.

Members of the detective bureau will file a complaint with Chicopee District Court against Charles "Charlie" DiRosa, Wilk said.

If the court determines the complaint is valid, DiRosa will be summonsed into court for a trial, he said.

Wilk said the department was notified of the post by an anonymous message from someone who sent the police a link to DiRosa's Facebook account.

After a weekend in which the two NYPD officers were shot to death and officer Charles "Charlie K" Kondek was shot to death and run over by a suspect in Tarpon Springs, Florida, Wilk said the department was in no mood to treat DiRosa's Facebook post lightly.

In addition to the show-cause complaint, the department also sent out an advisory to area departments, the Massachusetts State Police and to the Commonwealth Fusion Center, which sent the information to every police department in the state, he said. According to the state's website, the Fusion Center provides 24 hours a day statewide information sharing among local, state and federal public safety agencies and private sector organizations.

The advisory, which features photos of DiRosa from his Facebook page, describes him as "currently on probation," but did not specify the offenses for which he's been convicted.

It notes he is not known to have any firearms, but officers are encouraged "to use extreme caution" when they encounter him.

Given the violence toward police in recent days as well as the planned commemoration tonight in Holyoke of the 1999 shooting death of officer John DiNapoli, Wilk said the department has no choice but to treat the comment with deadly seriousness.

The department only learned of the posting after someone notified police, he said.

"We are not looking on Facebook (for comments)," he said. "Someone sent us a message to let us know and that they were concerned because they don't want to see us hurt."