DENVER – A Colorado Republican official is defending her social media comment that Martin Luther King Jr. may have wanted “a sniper on his side” the day he was assassinated.
KUSA-TV reported Thursday that Denver Republican Party Chairwoman Kris Cook said, “I bet Dr. King wishes he’d had a sniper on his side that day.”
The comment was shared on Twitter beneath a photo of Cook holding a rifle.
Cook says political opponents combined the photo and the statement to misrepresent her comment in reference to King’s assassination by a sniper on April 4, 1968.
Bernice King, daughter of the civil rights icon, posted a social media message to Cook on Wednesday.
“He would not have wanted a gun battle on his behalf,” King’s Twitter message says. “Don’t use him for this.”
