Missouri lawmaker tweets ‘Looters deserve to be shot. But not by government’ about Minneapolis uprising

A Missouri lawmaker sparked fury Friday when he tweeted about looters deserving to be shot after crowds, angered by the killing of an unarmed black man by a Minneapolis police officer, damaged businesses in that city.

“Looters deserve to be shot,” state Rep. Tony Lovasco, a St. Charles County Republican, tweeted Friday afternoon. “But not by government. #2A”

Online criticism swiftly followed.

“When you can’t contain your racism, or your bloodthirst. Sounds about white,” state Rep. Brian Sims, a Pennsylvania lawmaker with a large online following, tweeted in response.

House Minority Leader Crystal Quade was quick to condemn Lovasco’s tweet.

“Anyone who commits a crime should prosecuted and punished appropriately,” Quade, a Springfield Democrat, said in a statement. “But an elected official who advocates for extrajudicial murder is just as lawless as those he condemns and is unfit to hold public office.”

Lovasco said in a Friday interview that his tweet was in response to President Donald Trump’s comment offering military support to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and tweeting “When the looting starts, the shooting starts.”

Lovasco said it was unacceptable for the military to be used in that way.

“However, my point was I don’t have a lot of sympathy for people (who), in the process of looting, get shot by business owners,” Lovasco said. “I have zero sympathy for people who would use the murder of an unarmed man as an excuse to steal a big screen (TV). This is not what this is about.”

Widespread protests broke out after a video surfaced of Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin crushing a handcuffed George Floyd;s neck with his knee. Floyd, who had been accused of buying cigarettes with fake money, told the officer he couldn’t breath. He was unresponsive and lacking a pulse when medics arrived, according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

For protesters, Floyd was another example of a black man killed by a white police officer with no consequences. The protests spread to several cities, including New York, Washington, D.C., Denver, Phoenix, and on Friday, Kansas City. On Friday, Chauvin was charged with third-degree murder.

Lovasco said he believes the grief and anger the protesters feel is justified. But he does not think it should be directed toward “unrelated businesses.”

“It’s completely different when you start bringing in private businesses that have nothing to do with any systemic racism, into the equation,” Lovasco said.

Lovasco, who was elected in 2018, has been supportive of criminal justice reform. He has spoken out against mandatory minimum sentences and the continuing war on drugs, both of which has led to the disproportionate incarceration of a generation of black men. Lovasco also said he hopes to see the death penalty abolished in Missouri.

“To my original point, the government should not be killing people,” Lovasco said.

Lovasco said he should have been more specific about his point initially. However, he said he is also disappointed that looting has distracted from an important issue: reforming how police officers are treated when they “mess up.”

“I can’t fathom an explanation that makes that officer’s actions OK and the other officers that stood by and did nothing. I think they have a lot to answer for as well,” Lovasco said.