A Marine at Twentynine Palms is facing punishment after making an "inappropriate" reference to the Trayvon Martin case in a Twitter message, the Marine Corps said Saturday.

The Marine, a staff sergeant with 10 years in the corps, put a message on Twitter: "Rifle range all day today. Shooting black all day like George Zimmerman." Silhouettes on rifle range targets are painted black.

Once his command found out about the post, he deleted the post, erased his Twitter account and took down his MySpace account.

The Marine also apologized for the post when contacted by a reporter for the Marine Corps Times: "It was a distasteful comment that was said. I guess at the time I didn't realize how one comment would affect so many people negatively, and for that I apologize to everybody."

The Marine faces unspecified discipline by his command, a Marine spokesman said.

Marine Corps policy on the use of social media warns Marines not to post comments that reflect negatively on themselves or the Marine Corps.

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Photos: Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman. Credit: Associated Press