Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara apologized at a press conference Thursday after he previously discussed crime committed by “groups of East African kids.”
O’Hara made the remarks during a Nov. 11 interview.
A petition on Change.org demanding an apology for comments made by O’Hara, who was updating local station WCCO about an investigation into an Oct. 31 homicide, gathered only 629 signatures. Prior to O’Hara’s remarks, two Somali leaders who didn’t speak English made remarks. (RELATED: ‘Terrible Night’: Scott Jennings Warns Democrats’ Election Rout Came With Price For Party’s ‘Image’ In Long Run)
“The Somali community here in Minneapolis has been welcoming and has shown love towards me, and I appreciate it,” O’Hara said. “Over the last three years we have been working together to try and address some of the real serious problems that we have in our community.”
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“We have to be honest at times with the problems that we’re having in our community, and we need our community to help us fix those problems together because it’s real and it’s serious,” O’Hara added later. “At the same time, if people have taken anything that I have said out of context in a way that’s caused harm, I apologize, and I’m sorry for that because that’s not my intention at all.”
O’Hara told WCCO that part of the problem was gangs, as well as the fact that many of those committing crimes, ranging from vandalism to carjacking, were not from the city. Prosecutorial and judicial leniency in Minneapolis have also made addressing crime difficult, according to Alpha News.
“They aren’t the poor kids from Minneapolis that are our residents, these are kids coming down in mommy’s Mercedes-Benz to Dinkytown, and they don’t know where they are,” O’Hara told WCCO.
O’Hara said that the person killed in the Oct. 31 shooting and one of those wounded were not from Minneapolis.
“Groups of kids, groups of East African kids that are coming from surrounding communities and not just one community, kind of all over the place,” O’Hara said in the Nov. 11 interview.
Democratic City Councilman Jamal Osman of Minneapolis was carjacked Nov. 10, days after winning reelection on a platform that included “restorative justice” and “violence prevention programs.”
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