Here's another challenger for the title of 2013's most offensive Halloween costume.
Twitter has been fuming with rage after this photograph of a woman dressed up as a Boston Marathon bombing victim began making its rounds on the Interwebs:
The woman, identified as 22-year-old Alicia Ann Lynch by BuzzFeed, is said to have provoked the wrath of thousands of social media users after tweeting and Instagramming the offensive photo of herself.
@rennoceralc @SomeSKANKinMI repulsive. As someone who experienced it first hand, I cant see how a mentally stable person can think that's ok
— Molly Walsh (@MollyWalsh) October 31, 2013
According to BuzzFeed, the cyber attacks on Lynch very quickly took a turn for the nasty, as netizens scoured the web for more information about the young woman.
Identifying information about Lynch was circulated, as well as nude videos and pictures that she had allegedly appeared in.
Lynch, whose Twitter account has since been suspended, says her family has been subjected to death threats in recent days.
"Plz stop with the death threats towards my parents. They did nothing wrong. I was the one in the wrong and I am paying for being insensitive," she tweeted Friday.
She later wrote that she had lost her job over the costume fiasco.
As the Internet's anger has spiraled out of control, some Twitter users have attempted to bring some reason to the fray, reminding others that vengeance and bullying are never the answer:
What's worse about @someskankinmi situation is the fact that we, as a human race, immediately turn to cyber-bullying & death threats.
— Adam Hlavac (@ADAMhlavac) November 3, 2013
Sadly, though Lynch has been a prime target for this barrage of criticism, she may not have been the only person who used the Boston Marathon bombing tragedy as inspiration for a Halloween costume.
As Boston Magazine pointed out last week, several Twitter users expressed interest in dressing up as the bombers responsible for the horrific attacks or the victims of the disaster.
Just saw a boston bomber victim Halloween costome... Can't you just be Miley Cyrus like everyone else? #inconsiderate #scumbags
— Jackie Williams (@lovejackieeex) October 29, 2013
Choosing to celebrate Halloween by making light of a tragedy is always a horrible idea, but it seems that -- given those men who dressed up as bloodied Asiana Airlines pilots or those Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman costumes -- one too many people didn't get that memo this year.