A Black pastor and NAACP chapter president spoke out against Blue Lives Matter after two Los Angeles County deputies were shot by an unknown perpetrator in Compton on Saturday.
On Sunday, Bishop Talbert Swan, pastor of Spring of Hope Church of God in Christ in Massachusetts, criticized the Blue Lives Matter movement in a series of tweets.
The tweets came as people expressed outrage on social media over the shootings, and the hashtag #BlueLivesMatter trended on Twitter. The L.A. County Sheriff’s Office shared information through social media about the ambush, which occurred at 6:58 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 12. Video footage of the incident shows that the shooter walked up to a parked patrol car near a Compton light rail station and fired multiple shots into the vehicle before running away.
Both deputies, one man and one woman, were shot in the face and are in stable condition and expected to survive.
The Sheriff’s Office said there are no named or wanted suspects at this time.
Talbert did not condone the shootings, but he pointed out the double standards between some of the reactions to the attack on the deputies compared to the reactions to the shooting perpetrated by Kyle Rittenhouse at a protest for Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last month. Two people shot by Rittenhouse died, and a third person was injured.
Talbert, who is also president of a Massachusetts chapter of the NAACP, specifically took aim at those who defended Rittenhouse’s actions. Over $1 million dollars were raised for Rittenhouse through a Christian fundraising site and the Fight Back Foundation.
Talbert was criticized for his tweets and posted images on what appears to be messages he received through Direct Messaging on Facebook. One user told the bishop it was “too bad” he was not killed.
A $100,000 reward is being offered in the search for the the gunman who shot the deputies.
