Durham council backs police chief after social media comments on Charlie Kirk
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- Durham council affirms support for police chief amid resignation petition
- Chief Patrice Andrews faces criticism over social media remarks on Charlie Kirk
- City reviews post for policy breach; over 1,200 sign petition demanding exit
Durham City Council members said Monday night they support the city’s police chief, who faces calls to resign over a social media comment she made after Charlie Kirk’s death.
Council members called for unity as they shared concerns about division in the city. Their comments came after Chief Patrice Andrews took to her personal social media page to criticize Kirk, the conservative political activist who was killed last week in Utah.
Kirk “disguised” himself as a Christian, Andrews wrote in the since-deleted post, which was widely circulated online “[He] shamed Black women like me, believed that gun violence was necessary to preserve the 2nd Amendment and created a culture of divisiveness through hate speech,” she wrote, among other comments.
Since then, she has received backlash from critics. As of Tuesday, over 1,200 people have signed a petition online calling for Andrews’ resignation.
In a statement Monday, the city of Durham said Andrews’ post is being reviewed to determine whether she broke any policies.
But council member Nate Baker said he supports Andrews and is honored to work in a city with a “police chief who holds values consistent with the values of our community.”
“We are living in this time of division, where people are being told that we need to be torn apart,” Baker said at the meeting. “Where social media and corporate media are so loud in saying, ‘You need to demonize this person or that person because they’re different.’
“Unity isn’t about pretending that everything is fine,” Baker said. “It’s not about brushing things aside. It’s about choosing to move forward together with clear eyes. ... We’re not as different as they want us to believe.”
Mayor Leo Williams told The News & Observer in a phone interview Monday afternoon he has received several calls and messages urging him to fire Andrews. The city manager, not the council, has the power to hire and fire most city employees.
“I fully support our chief,” Williams said.
At Monday night’s meeting, Williams said no one deserves to die, and he’s concerned about where the nation is headed. He said the outrage over Andrews’ post is “symbolic of how divided we’ve become and how we can’t really talk about things.”
“I think it’s important that we realize that silence for what’s right is also damaging. It’s important that we speak up for what’s right,” he said. “The First Amendment, freedom of speech, is accessible to us all, whether we like each other or not. It is for all of us. ... You cannot be selectively outraged and try to determine who gets access to that or not.”
The News & Observer was unable to reach Andrews for comment by phone or email Monday.
‘A reckoning of honesty and truth’
Council member DeDreana Freeman didn’t mention Andrews by name but said there needed to be “a reckoning of honesty and truth.”
“This is supposed to be a happy time,” she said. “A joyous time, fall. Leaves are falling, changing colors, it’s so beautiful outside. ... And we’re seeing exactly the opposite.”
Freeman told Durham residents to think of children when they speak, “because they’re watching, and they can see, and they’re not stupid.”
“They should be free from racism, they should be free from sexism, they should be free from all the ‘isms’ that would ‘other’ them,” she said. “That is what humanity calls for.”
Council member Javiera Caballero highlighted that Monday was the start of Hispanic Heritage Month. Several Latin American countries are celebrating their independence day in September, but the hate and anger across the country threaten the future, she said.
“What are we doing individually and in community together, to chart a different future for our city, but also for this country in this very trying moment?” she asked. “I do need all of us to remember that we are all in this together, and we don’t have a different future if we don’t remember that shared humanity between us.”
Andrews became Durham’s chief of police in 2021 after serving as chief of the Morrisville Police Department. She became the second Black woman to lead the department and has a law enforcement career that spans over 25 years.
Efforts for inclusivity
Andrews’ comment and Kirk’s death come almost two weeks after Durham passed a Fourth Amendment Workplace resolution, which seeks to protect city employees from possible Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids. During Monday’s meeting, the city also celebrated Welcoming Week to foster a sense of belonging to residents, including immigrants and refugees.
As the city strives for inclusivity, Williams said council members get the “most vulgar threats and voicemails and emails whenever we speak for what’s right.”
“We’re going to always stand up for one another in this community,” he said, adding that Kirk made his “choices for his own reasons.”
“I do agree that everyone should be able to express their own views, and they should be able to do this without political attacks,” Williams said.
This story was originally published September 15, 2025 at 11:02 PM with the headline "Durham council backs police chief after social media comments on Charlie Kirk."