San Diego Chargers Cheerleaders
The San Diego Chargers Cheerleaders perform during a match in September Getty

A security guard who was caught on video by a member of the crowd performing a sex act on himself in front of cheerleaders has been fired.

The footage showed the guard seemingly masturbating while he was standing a few feet away from San Diego Chargers' cheerleading squad on Sunday (18 December).

The offender, as yet unidentified, was working for Elite Security at the time of incident. The firm has since confirmed to the New York Post that the he has lost his job.

In a statement to the paper on Tuesday (20 December), they said: "Elite would like to apologize to anyone who was offended by this isolated incident. Additionally, Elite has opened a formal investigation into the matter and has acted swiftly in terminating the employee involved."

The incident is also being investigated by police.

The video was initially posted to Facebook along with the comment: "So clearly Elite Security nor the San Diego Chargers care that they have a masturbating security guard at the game," one horrified woman at the game posted.

"Several attempts to call both organizations with no concern for the Charger Girls, Chargers fans or kids. So yeah this happened right in front of us yesterday. WARNING INAPPROPRIATE CONTENT!"

Elite Security added that their former employee had passed all state and federal screening processes prior to the incident.