A staffer for San Diego Council Member Lorie Zapf was suspended without pay last week, following comments she made about a recent anti-police protest.
“I wanted to shoot them,” staffer Shirley Owen reportedly told a friend at San Diego’s inauguration ceremony. She was referring to a group of demonstrators who showed up to the meeting and held up their arms donning shirts that read, “Don’t shoot.”
Zapf released a statement Friday, calling the remarks “extremely insensitive” and unrepresentative of her office’s beliefs.
"As the first Latina elected to the City Council, I am acutely aware of the interaction between law enforcement and our communities," she added.
The statement also included an apology from Owen, who acknowledged that her off-the-cuff comment was “in poor taste.” According to the reporter who overheard the exchange, Owen also referred to the protestors as “idiots.” Owen’s suspension will last for a period of two weeks.
Protests against police conduct have continued to rage across the country in the wake of two high-profile deaths of unarmed black men at the hands of officers.
Read more about the suspension here.