California City Manager Who Said Officers Being Shot Was Expected Is Placed on Leave

Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department deputies walk outside St. Francis Medical Center hospital following the ambush shooting of two deputies in Compton, in Lynwood, Calif., on Sept. 13, 2020. Patrick T. Fallon/Reuters

A city manager in California who said the brazen shooting of two deputies was to be expected was placed on leave Tuesday.

Jose Ometeotl, the city manager of Lynwood, made the comments on social media following the Sept. 12 shooting of two Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies in nearby Compton.

Lynwood City Council members voted Tuesday to place Ometeotl on paid administrative leave, pending an internal investigation, the city said in a statement.

A special closed session agenda document from the council posted before the meeting said members would be evaluating the city manager’s performance and decide whether to discipline him, dismiss the questions about his conduct, or fire him.

Ometeotl has not responded to requests for comment.

Ometeotl posted a photograph of Malcolm X the day after the shooting with writing that stated “Chickens come home to roost.'’

Lynwood city manager Jose Ometeotl in an undated photograph. City of Lynwood

“The fact that someone randomly opened fire on deputies is to be expected in the society we live in today,” he wrote in the post, which he later deleted.

The city issued a statement following the city manager’s social media post.

“There have been comments made today (Sunday) by our city manager on his personal social media that are his personal opinions and don’t reflect the position of the Lynwood City Council,” the statement read.

A petition calling for Ometeotl’s resignation has garnered over 1,300 signatures.