Durham police chief claims Charlie Kirk ‘disguised himself as a Christian’ in social media post

DURHAM, N.C. (WNCN) — A social media post published to the private Facebook page of Durham Police Chief Patrice Andrews has spurred calls for city leadership to remove her from her high-ranking position.

Andrews, who has served as police chief since November 2021, spoke candidly about her views of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated on a Utah college campus in front of thousands of students last week.

A screenshot of the full post, in which Andrews said Kirk “disguised himself as a Christian” and used “hate speech,” can be seen below.

In addition to an onslaught of social media posts (some firing off oppositions and some offering validation to Andrews’ points), an online petition has also been created, demanding the chief turn in her resignation.

Claims made by the petition organizer included the the post:

• is “indicative of a bias that calls into question her ability to serve all members of our community impartially”
• has “sparked doubts about her capability to uphold the law without bias”
• is aligned “only with a specific group, alienating others within our diverse community”

The City of Durham said Chief Andrews is “not available for an interview today,” but responded to CBS 17’s questions on the post with the following statement:

The City of Durham is aware of a personal social media post made by Police Chief Patrice Andrews. The post was made on the Chief’s personal account and not on any official City or Police Department platform. We are reviewing the matter to determine whether any City policies were violated.”

– The City of Durham

Also speaking on the controversy Monday was Durham Mayor Leonardo Williams.

“We cannot be selective on who gets to exercise the first amendment,” he said.

“I have been in the hotseat myself several times speaking in my own capacity. I will say that we as public servants, we do have to be aware of the impact of our verbiage whether it’s in our personal capacity or not. We are human and sometimes we make that mistake,” Mayor Williams said. “I spoke to [Andrews] personally and her intent was not to create outrage. It was her expressing her personal views within her own personal network. However, she’s the chief of police and it affects the residents of Durham if they’re interpreting it as such.”

This is a developing story. Stay with CBS 17 for the latest.