Philly DA’s Office detective has his gun taken away after saying he’s ‘ready to go to war’ over ‘rigged’ election

A detective in the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office has been placed on restricted duty and had his gun taken away after posting on social media that he’s “ready to go to war” over the false claims that the presidential election was rigged.

“I’m unfortunately ready to go to war. There’s no negotiating when it’s believed the election was rigged,” Detective Vincent Rotondi wrote in a recent Facebook post obtained by The Inquirer in which he used the name Vinny Ro. “Unfortunately only war will change this outcome as is was needed for then revolutionary war and first civil war. I’m done debating, just waiting now.”

District Attorney Larry Krasner said Thursday that a detective in his office had been placed on restricted duty for making inflammatory remarks on social media but would not confirm the detective’s identity.

“We take very seriously any post in which a law enforcement officer appears to be advocating violent crime,” Krasner said. “And we take very seriously any post in which a law enforcement officer appears to be giving the same talking points that are given by white supremacists.”

Rotondi, an employee of the District Attorney’s Office detailed to the Philadelphia Police Department major crimes unit, posted his remarks in response to a post by a friend who did not support the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol. Five people died in the siege, including Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who died from injuries sustained in the attack.

John McNesby, president of Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #5, which represents detectives at the District Attorney’s Office, said he could not comment Thursday because he had not spoken with the detective.

Efforts to reach Rotondi were unsuccessful.

The action comes after a Philadelphia police detective had her gun taken away after attending the Jan. 6 rally and posting vitriolic, far-right rhetoric on social media, including calling Vice President Mike Pence a traitor and pedophile.

Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw has promised “swift and definitive action” against any Philadelphia police officer found to have played a part in the violence at the Capitol.

That investigation is ongoing.

On Wednesday, SEPTA Police Chief Thomas J. Nestel III said an internal investigation has found no evidence that seven of his officers who had attended the rally in Washington had stormed the Capitol.