Lynwood City Manager Placed On Administrative Leave Following Response To Shooting Of 2 Deputies
LYNWOOD (CBSLA) -- Lynwood City Manager Jose Ometeotl has been placed on administrative leave pending an internal investigation after he posted to social media a response to the shooting of two sheriff's deputies in Compton.
Officials announced his leave on Twitter Tuesday.
— City of Lynwood (@MyLynwoodca) September 16, 2020
On Sunday, Ometeotl posted a photo to his Instagram of Malcom X with writing on it that said "chickens come home to roost." In the caption, he commented on the recent shooting of two LASD deputies.
"The shooting of anyone is a wholly unacceptable occurrence in society. I do not condone the type of violence seen in the shooting of the deputies yesterday in Compton. I will say that communities like Compton have been plagued by deputy gangs that inflict fear and violence in the community,'' he wrote.
"These deputies murdered, framed and stole from the community just because they could. Good deputies never turned on bad deputies for fear of retaliation and when caught most of these bad deputies kept their jobs and continued on their criminal career. The fact that someone randomly opened fire on deputies is to be expected in the society we live in today. The political climate and leadership of Sheriff Villanueva has only sowed the seeds of anger and frustration in the community. I pray for the deputies and their families while still demanding justice for Andres Guardado, Breona Taylor, Tamir Rice, Ahmaud Arbery.''
Ometeotl has since made his Instagram private, but Fox LA reporter Bill Melugin posted screenshots of the post to Twitter.
Here is the full post from before he made his account private. @FOXLA pic.twitter.com/ETAmv3ekcg
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) September 13, 2020
Sunday evening, the city responded to the post, issuing a statement.
"On behalf of the hard-working families of Lynwood as well as the city's employees and elected officials, we wish to send our heartfelt prayers to the families of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies recently injured in the line of duty. We also support every effort by the sheriff's department to track down their attacker. There have been comments made today (Sunday) by our city manager on is personal social media that are his personal opinions and don't reflect the position of the Lynwood City Council.''
On Tuesday night, the Lynwood City Council voted to place Ometeotl on paid administrative leave pending an internal investigation. Community Development Director Michelle Ramirez has been appointed acting city manager.
A change.org petition calling for Ometeotl's resignation has received over 1,200 signatures as of Tuesday night.
(© Copyright 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)