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“I think it’s quite deplorable for a police officer to tweet this kind of material over the Internet and I would hope for a more informed dialogue,” he said at the press conference.

Marin said he did not believe these tweets were motivated by his interest in the Sammy Yatim shooting.

“I’ve got thick skin,” he said, adding that he has received death threats in the past. He would not comment on the nature of the death threats.

Marin identified the offensive tweeter, “Joe Mayo,” as a Durham Regional Police Detective and cited him by name.

The account, @joeymayo12, was deleted shortly afterwards.

Durham Police Deputy Chief Paul Martin said the force was investigating the “disturbing allegations” made by Marin.

“Should the Ombudsman have any information beyond what was in the tweets we would be happy to hear from him,” Martin said on Twitter Thursday afternoon.

Marin replied that he would “co-operate fully” with the investigation.

At his Thursday news conference, Marin said he did not want to say how he connected the dots from the Twitter account to the officer.

“I don’t want to get into that right now,” he told reporters. His Twitter feed said he could not reveal his investigative techniques.

A call to the officer’s work number went to voicemail, where he said he was out of the office until Aug. 12.

The officer in question appears on both the 2011 and 2012 “Sunshine” list, which names Ontario public employees making more than $100,000. He made $109,113.90 in 2012 and $102,241.68 in 2011.

Marin said his office had been the subject of attacks on Twitter recently. Marin had done a number of highly critical media interviews after Toronto police fatally shot 18-year-old Yatim on a streetcar.

Yatim was alone a Dundas streetcar, holding a knife, when police fired nine shots at him, striking him multiple times in late July.

“What we saw on the [streetcar] is not something that is completely unfamiliar with the Toronto Police Service. There have been literally dozens of inquests that have recommended measures to de-escalate this kind of conflict,” Marin told the CBC.

One Twitter user managed to get a screenshot of “Joe Mayo”‘s account before it was deleted.

The account also took shots at Toronto City Councillor Janet Davis, who had been critical of police actions in the shooting death of Yatim.

“You are a real expert, huh? Douchebag city councillor? Were you there? You need to keep your idiotic thoughts to yourself,” “Joe Mayo” tweeted on July 28.

July 28 was the same date Davis sent out a number of tweets that seemingly criticized Toronto actions.