Marco Rubio says Philadelphia’s mayor is “delusional” for failing to pin the blame for a police officer’s shooting on ISIS.
And Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney hit Rubio back, saying he should “show some class and dignity when you are running for the highest office in the land.”
Police say Edward Archer, 30, ambushed and shot Officer Jesse Hartnett, 33, while he was sitting in his patrol car Thursday night. He later confessed to the shooting, and a Philadelphia police captain told CNN that Archer cited ISIS as inspiration for the attack, which left Hartnett seriously injured.
Kenney said in a news conference Friday that Archer’s actions have “nothing to do with being a Muslim” — comments that drew Rubio’s ire.
“When they caught this person, they asked him, ‘Why did you do this?’ This person did not resist — this person said, ‘I did it because I pledged allegiance to ISIS. I am inspired by ISIS,'” Rubio said in Sarasota, Florida, on Monday. “To his credit, the police chief of Philadelphia said this person did it because of ISIS.”
Then, he hit Kenney, saying: “The mayor of Philadelphia — who I know nothing about other than the fact that he’s delusional — said this has nothing to do with ISIS or Islam; this is because there are too many guns in the street.”
Rubio continued, saying that the shooting happened “because there are too many terrorists in the streets.” He condemned Democrats for avoiding the phrase “radical Islamic terrorist.”
Kenney, who is in his first year as Philadelphia’s mayor, said Rubio is demonizing an entire religion — and attempting to score political points on an officer’s shooting.
“I stand by what I said: This criminal is not representative of Islam. Period,” Kenney said.
“I think candidates for office, particularly for president, should not demonize an entire group of Americans because of the actions of a violent criminal with a deranged view of what the Quran teaches — and I also think it’s particularly irresponsible to try and score political points off the attempted assassination of a Philadelphia police officer,” he said.
Kenney added, in a jab at Rubio: “Show some class and dignity when you are running for the highest office in the land.”