Marisa Martin, a reporter for ESPNU Campus Connection (it’s important to note Martin is not an ESPN employee), committed career suicide early Thursday morning after she made a horribly inappropriate comment about the shooting incident at Florida State University.
FSU police fatally shot a gunman at the campus library early Thursday in a shooting that left three others wounded as hundreds studying inside the library fled or took cover in panic.
As news of the shooting was breaking, Martin tweeted that the gunman was “heading for Jameis” [Winston], a reference to FSU’s Heisman winning quarterback Jameis Winston.
Martin then doubled down on her remark, responding to criticism by saying she is entitled to express her “opinion.”
Martin’s Twitter account has since been deleted.
According to Twitchy, a report from Alabama Campus Connection, the “official twitter for ESPNU Campus Connection at The University of Alabama,” states that Miller’s account was “compromised” and an investigation is ongoing.
However, as reporter C.J. LeMaster notes that the “person behind @UACampusConnect may be Martin herself. Her Facebook profile says she’s the director of @ESPNU‘s Campus Connection for Alabama.”
ESPN spokeswoman Keri Potts described Campus Connection as something of a college internship program, where students at hundreds of schools “can produce content or help with production,” updates the Washington Post. Campus Connection reporters are not paid by ESPN, Potts said, adding that they have a “very loose affiliation” with the network.
According to Potts, students are told to “go out and report and send it our way, and maybe we’ll use it.”
