Four suspects have been arrested after they were caught looting in Florida following Hurricane Ian.
MSNBC host Joy Reid owes Florida Governor Ron DeSantis an apology after the bust.
DeSantis warned criminals against looting, saying Florida is a Second Amendment state.
Reid immediately accused DeSantis of racism and echoing segregationist language, despite DeSantis never once mentioning race.
However, Reid ended up being accused of racism herself for assuming that the looters DeSantis was talking about would be black.
She said:
“‘When the looting starts, the shooting starts’ — segregationist Miami sheriff Walter E. Headley, 1967.
“Didn’t take DeSantis long to return to form.”
“When the looting starts, the shooting starts.”—segregationist Miami sheriff Walter E. Headley, 1967
Didn’t take DeSantis long to return to form.https://t.co/8FJKyzQY1G https://t.co/uS5jbrx29S
— Diana Was Right (@JoyAnnReid) October 1, 2022
But according to Fox News, the only looting arrests have been of four Hispanics:
Florida sheriff’s deputies arrested four suspected burglars who allegedly looted in the wake of Hurricane Ian, while many impacted Floridians struggle to recover from the Category 4 storm.
Omar Mejia Ortiz, 33, and Valerie Celeste Salcedo Mena, 26, were arrested, along with 20-year-olds Brandon Mauricio Araya and Steve Eduardo Sanchez Araya. Lee County sheriff’s deputies arrested all four on charges of burglary of an unoccupied structure during a state of emergency, according to online jail records.
Ortiz was also charged with petit larceny, while the other three suspects were charged with grand larceny. It is unclear exactly when and where the burglaries took place.
As Slay News reported, DeSantis said earlier:
“Florida is a law and order state.
“Looting and lawlessness will not be tolerated.
“The other thing that we’re concerned about in areas that were really hard hit is that we want to make sure that we’re maintaining law and order.
“Don’t even think about looting, don’t even think about taking advantage of people in this vulnerable situation.
“So local law enforcement is involved in monitoring that.
“I told Kevin if the state needs to help as well because you can have people bringing boats into some of these islands and trying to ransack people’s homes.
“I can tell you, in the state of Florida, you never know what may be lurking behind somebody’s home and I would not want to chance that if I were you given that we are a second amendment state.”
DeSantis’s staffer Christina Pushaw fired back when someone complained about the governor’s rhetoric:
“It’s actually about deterring crime & violence.
“If people value their own lives, they won’t attempt to loot the homes of Floridians devastated by the hurricane.
“You & anyone who thinks looting is ok: be advised that Floridians are armed and will defend themselves & their property.”
It’s actually about deterring crime & violence. If people value their own lives, they won’t attempt to loot the homes of Floridians devastated by the hurricane. You& anyone who thinks looting is ok: be advised that Floridians are armed and will defend themselves & their property https://t.co/n62kcwHUpm
— Christina Pushaw 🐊 🇺🇸 (@ChristinaPushaw) October 1, 2022
