Federal prosecutors allege a 24-year-old soldier enlisted in the military so he could become better at killing Black people.

CNN and Rolling Stone reported that the Department of Justice charged Killian M. Ryan on Aug. 26 with one count of knowingly making a false statement on his application for a secret security clearance.

An Army spokesperson confirmed to CNN that Ryan was discharged on the same day for "serious misconduct."

According to the news outlets, the Justice Department began investigating Ryan for lying on an official form. During their probe, they found that he allegedly engaged in violent and racist online activity.

Although his criminal charges are unrelated to his racist online communications, federal prosecutors detailed their findings in court documents, the media outlets reported.

According to the news outlets, during their investigation, the Justice Department found Instagram messages of Ryan detailing how he planned to use combat training to kill Black people.

The news outlets reported that Ryan is charged for lying on an application for security clearance.

According to court documents, the then-21-year-old said he had not seen his biological father in 10 years. Still, it was later discovered that they had been corresponding through Instagram, where they both allegedly engaged with accounts that “associated with racially motivated extremism," the media outlets reported.

A former Ohio police chief is accused of making racist references to a Black officer — and it was caught on video. The officer has filed a discrimination charge, which is the first step toward a lawsuit.

In July, a video went viral of former Sheffield Lake Police Chief Anthony Campo placing a paper with "Ku Klux Klan" written on it on officer Keith Pool's jacket.

Then another video shows Campo putting on a makeshift KKK hat.

At the time, the mayor told local media that the incident was horrible, shocking and unacceptable.

The same day Campo was put on administrative leave, he resigned from the department.

Now, the officer targeted by the racist actions is speaking out, remembering that the chief also called over other officers to see what he did.

"Even when I, we watched it now, I am in disbelief that this has happened," Pool said. "My, my exact words were, 'Are you serious?' And, I just looked at him, and like what else can you say to the chief of police who done something so heinous and so awful.

Officer Pool is now filing a discrimination charge with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission and a petition with the Ohio Supreme Court.

"And, this was not the Chief's first time doing something racist and offensive to me or other employees," Pool said. "It was just the first time he got caught on video."

The petition asks for Campo's record of racial harassment complaints, alleging the chief repeatedly engaged in racial misconduct.

"Our investigation has revealed that Chief Campo referred to Officer Pool as the N-word and said he did not want an N-word working in his department," Ashlie Case Sletvold, Pool's attorney, said.

Officer Pool requested those documents himself, but the city did not provide Campo's misconduct record.

"The city's failure to turn over the public records documenting his misconduct makes me feel like they want to protect the ex-chief Campo," Pool said.

Officer Pool does still work for the department under new Chief Andrew Kory, calling it a healthier environment.

"Working there since the incident and the removal of Chief Campo has been more upbeat," Pool said.

The law firm representing Pool plans to file with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission in order to get the right to sue.

The petition it sent to the state supreme court effectively asks the justices to get involved with the case.

SHEFFIELD LAKE, Ohio — A local police officer who says he was the butt of a racist joke made by a former chief of police has filed a discrimination charge against the city. The officer, Kieth Pool, is also seeking the release of public documents regarding other racist incidents allegedly involving Sheffield Lake's former top cop.

The catalyst was an incident involving Pool that was captured on camera inside the station on June 25.

Footage of the incident shows Sheffield Lake chief of police Anthony Campo placing a folded piece of paper over the world "police" on a yellow raincoat lying on a desk.

While it's not clear what was written on the piece of paper, in a June interview, the Sheffield Lake law director said that "from my understanding, (the writing) was related to the KKK."

Later, Pool, who is Black, entered the room, and Campo pointed out the piece of paper to him. After Campo left the room, Pool had a discussion with several other officers in the room.

Sheffield Lake

"Even when I watch it now, I am in disbelief that this happened to me," Pool said in a Zoom interview with his legal representation present.

Pool said that after showing him the raincoat, Campo called over other officers to see what he had done.

"My my exact words were, are you serious? And I just looked at him and left it," Pool said. "What else can you say to the chief of police who's done something so heinous? It's so awful."

Sheffield Lake PD chief retires following incident at station

Department records show that the chief was placed on administrative leave on June 29 pending an investigation into the matter. Campo submitted his retirement notice the same day he was placed on leave.

Records show Campo was with the department for 33 years.

Campo later said that the incident was a "joke that got out of hand."

According to the law firm Peiffer Wolf Carr Kane & Conway, which represents Pool, Campo's conduct goes beyond a single joke.

"Our investigation has revealed that Chief Campo referred to Officer Pool as the 'n-word' and said he did not want an 'n-word' working in his department," said Ashlie Case Sletvold, a partner with Peiffer Wolf Carr Kane & Conway.

The law firm also claims the city has kept public records under wraps that allegedly detail additional incidents of harassment by Campo toward other officers of color.

"This was not the first time doing something racist and offensive to me or other employees," Pool said. "It was just the first time they got caught on video."

The charge seeks the release of other documents showing "racist images Campo generated and posted while on duty."

"The city provided the surveillance video and other records but failed to provide the racist images Campo created to mock and humiliate employees of color or various official memoranda he issued during his tenure," the law firm said.

According to the law firm, Campo used police department equipment to create and print out offensive images, which were left on the desks of other officers.

"The images included one of Officer Pool as the grim reaper (describing him as 'The Raccoon Reaper')," the firm wrote.

Another image that was printed out allegedly portrayed another officer of color, the law firm stated.

"Because the City of Sheffield Lake has not fully complied with its obligations under the Ohio Public Records Act, Officer Pool's attorneys have asked the state's highest court to mandate the release of these public records," the law firm wrote.

So far, the city has only provided the surveillance video relating to the incident involving Pool, the law firm said.

"The city's failure to turn over the public records documenting his misconduct makes me feel like they want to protect the ex-chief," Pool said.

"If it wasn't bad enough that the former police chief was engaged in rampant racist workplace harassment, now the city that hired him appears to be helping to cover it up," said Joseph C. Peiffer, the managing partner of Peiffer Wolf Carr Kane & Conway. "Racial harassment has no place in law enforcement, and we will ensure that the City of Sheffield Lake will face a reckoning for all of the despicable behavior conducted by its former Police Chief."

Pool, who still works for the department under the new chief, Andrew Kory, calls it a healthier environment than under Campo.

"Working there since the incident and the removal of Chief Campo has been more upbeat," he said.

The law firm has filed a discrimination charge with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission (OCRC) and a mandamus petition with the Ohio Supreme Court regarding the matter.

According to documents provided by the law firm, Ohio law prohibits individuals from bringing a lawsuit in state court until they have first filed a charge with the OCRC and received a Notice of Right to Sue.

It will be up to the Ohio Supreme Court to decide how to handle the case and the OCRC to investigate the charge.

This story was originally published by Drew Scofield and Nadeen Abusada on Scripps station WEWS in Cleveland.

Several studies show that Black people are disproportionately killed by police in the U.S. And leaders, including President Biden, are calling for change.

But Sen. Lindsey Graham says the U.S. doesn't have an issue of systemic racism.

"We just elected a two-term African American president," Graham said. "The vice president is of African American Indian descent. So our systems are not racist. America's not a racist country. Within every society, you have bad actors."

The police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Daunte Wright, and several others have renewed the calls for a change in policing.

The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which aims to ban certain methods of deadly force by police, end qualified immunity, and improve training, has passed the House with support from President Biden and is now at the Senate's hands. 

Dozens of people took to Twitter on Monday to say they received emails with a racial slur from a Walmart account after someone created fake accounts with their addresses on the company's site.

An auto-generated "Welcome to Walmart" email, which was sent to the accounts after they were signed up for a Walmart shopping account, contained the n-word.

"What's the best way to contact you guys for a very inappropriate email my daughter received in their inbox from you?" user @GDolceMiami said on Twitter.

Walmart spokesperson Molly Blakeman said in a statement that "an external bad actor" created fake user accounts "with obvious intent to offend our customers."

"We were shocked and appalled to see these offensive and unacceptable emails. We're looking into our sign up process to ensure something like this doesn't happen again," Blakeman said.

Walmart did not disclose how many customers received the email.

It's easy enough for bad actors to find people's addresses online, something consumers should be aware of when they receive unexpected emails.

"The actors likely acquired email addresses from an easily and freely available 'dump' from a historical third-party compromise," said Vikram Thakur, technical director at Symantec, the security software firm owned by Broadcom.