The chief executive of San Diego cybersecurity startup PacketSled Inc. has been put on administrative leave after election night posts on social media about assassinating President-elect Donald Trump.
Matt Harrigan, who founded PacketSled in 2013, wrote the comments on his Facebook account as election night unfolded. The account has since been deleted, but his comments were copied and posted on the website Reddit.
On Monday, Packetsled issued a statement saying Harrigan had been placed on leave.
“PacketSled takes recent comments made by our CEO seriously,” it said. “Once we were made aware of these comments, we immediately reported this information to the Secret Service and will cooperate fully with any inquiries.”
Harrigan’s posts on election night included one saying, “I’m going to kill the president. Elect,” according to the Reddit copy of his Facebook comments.
After a friend responded “You just need to get high,” Harrigan wrote, “Nope, getting a sniper rifle and perching myself where it counts. Find a bedroom in the White House that suits you. … I'll find you.”
On Sunday, Harrigan turned to Twitter to apologize, saying his comments were meant as a joke.