Councilmember Lorie Zapf suspended a staff member for two weeks without pay for saying she wanted to shoot protesters at San Diego’s inauguration ceremony.
“A few days ago a member of my staff made a grossly inappropriate comment to a friend about individuals who were peacefully protesting at a city event,” Zapf said in a statement Friday. “Her words were extremely insensitive and in no way reflect my beliefs or the values of my office.”
On Wednesday, around 25 protesters silently demonstrated against a side wall of Golden Hall while Zapf and three other council members were sworn in and gave short speeches.
The demonstrators raised their hands in the “hands up, don’t shoot” symbol from the protests in Ferguson, Missouri, where a police officer shot an unarmed black man. They also held their hands to their throats to symbolize the death of a man who asphyxiated during a struggle with officers in New York City.
The demonstrators did not disrupt the ceremony, but marched around the room and chanted when it was over.
KPBS reported that while members of the public and media waited to speak to Zapf, staffer Shirley Owen called the protesters “(expletive) idiots with their hands up” and said “I wanted to shoot them.”
Owen said in a statement, “I sincerely apologize for my comment on Wednesday. It was an offhand comment to a friend about the protest, and I should not have said it. It was wrong and in incredibly poor taste. I apologize to all I have offended, and especially to the protesters who were exercising their First Amendment rights by peacefully demonstrating.”
— City News Service
