Secret Service investigating photo of Valley students

PEORIA, AZ - A picture that shows several teens, a few of them carrying guns, displaying a bullet-riddled Obama T-shirt has led the U.S. Secret Service to investigate.

The Peoria Police Department is also doing its own investigation since the person who took the photograph is a Sergeant for the department.

“I don’t think that the shooting of that T-shirt is that big of a deal,” said Sgt. Pat Shearer, who snapped the photo.

“It was more of a political statement,” he told ABC15.

Shearer admitted that he was embarrassed by the photograph, which was being shared on Facebook.

On Thursday, the Secret Service told ABC15 that the individuals involved have a right to free speech, but that the agency also has a right to question them.

Shearer said that he stands by President Barack Obama and would sacrifice his own life for the President’s.

“It’s not like they were going to go out and shoot the president,” he said.

Shearer has risked his life for others in the past, according to the Peoria Police Department. In 2007, he was honored for rescuing a person from a burning car .

The photograph is drawing national attention now that The New York Times has posted the story on its website .