Award winning US news anchor fired over 'racist' Facebook rant

A US news anchor has been fired for making racist presumptions on social media after a shooting where five black people were killed, including a pregnant woman.

Award-winning reporter Wendy Bell was commenting on a deadly mass shooting incident that occurred on March 9 in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania, where two unidentified shooters opened fire at a backyard barbecue and killed five people, all of whom were black.

Bell's employer Hearst Television said in a statement that her comments were 'inconsistent with the company's ethics and journalistic standards' and that they had parted company with her.

Bell, a news anchor with WTAE in Pittsburgh, posted on her Facebook page on on March 21: "You needn't be a criminal profiler to draw a mental sketch of the killers who broke so many hearts two weeks ago Wednesday,"

"They are young black men, likely teens or in their early 20s. They have multiple siblings from multiple fathers and their mothers work multiple jobs."

"They have multiple siblings from multiple fathers and their mothers work multiple jobs," Bell wrote.

"These boys have been in the system before," Bell added, describing who she assumed the perpetrators to be.

"They've grown up there. They know the police. They've been arrested."

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Bell's controversial post appeared on her Facebook fan page Wednesday and not long after, a separate page had been created calling for her to be "held accountable" for her statements.

She deleted the original post by Wednesday evening, and issued the following apology:

"I now understand that some of the words I chose were insensitive and could be viewed as racist," she wrote. "I regret offending anyone. I'm truly sorry."

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News break – April 1

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