Canton Mayor Faces Fury Over 'Suck It Up' Remarks After Officer's Death

Canton Mayor Lou Ann Berry is facing a storm of anger after telling people she would just have to suck it up following the death of a police officer. The remarks came out on a KYTX livestream where she discussed two terrible events that hit her city recently. A deputy named Adam Sherifi died on October 20 while trying to serve an arrest warrant. In another incident, a fire inside a home took the lives of three children and their mother.

The mayor said she was crying when she heard about these tragedies in the morning. She told viewers that the whole community was in shock and called it a tragedy for everybody. Then she mentioned feeling sympathy for the family of the man who shot the officer. Her exact words were, His family is going to be wondering what happened to him. Right after saying this, she smiled and added, We will just have to suck it up and go on.

People watching online did not take kindly to that part. Many users demanded her resignation on social media platforms. Some said they could not understand why she seemed to laugh while talking about such heavy loss. One person wrote, Suck it up?????? who says that after indicating children died in a fire and two officers were hurt and one died? Who says that!? Another user called her bizarre because she laughed at the criminal's actions despite how they ended. Someone else pointed out that the grandfather of the children killed in the house fire also works for the same sheriff department.

The backlash did not stop there. Viewers noticed something strange after the interview ended. The mayor moved away from the camera and asked a person if they wanted some gossip. That clip spread online and made things even worse for her reputation. A viewer stated, I'm appalled by what I heard. To gossip about situations like this in a way is incredibly unprofessional and disrespectful, especially coming from someone in a leadership position who is supposed to care about this community. The version of the interview that appeared on YouTube left out this specific moment entirely.

Berry eventually issued an apology for her words. She said her comment had nothing to do with the unfortunate events of last evening. Her biggest regret on this pop off comment, she stated, was that it has become a distraction from the seriousness of the loss of these lives and the major injury to our city policeman. She did not address the suck it up remark specifically in that statement.

Sherifi suffered fatal wounds while he was assisting the Canton Police Department with serving felony warrants according to NBC DFW reports. The Van Zandt County Sheriff's Office said the suspect was wanted on outstanding felony warrants for two aggravated assault incidents. Officers arrived at the location around 10:00pm when the suspect started firing shots at them from inside the home. The officers returned the fire and Sherifi was shot during that exchange.

Police confirmed the suspect had already passed away at the scene, according to reports from the news outlet. Inside that same house on County Road 4127, officers located the body of another individual while they transported a wounded officer to Plano Regional Medical Center. A fire tore through the residence earlier that day, engulfing the building and its occupants in flames. Three children lost their lives in the tragedy: a three-year-old girl and two boys aged five and eight. Their mother was airlifted from the scene to Parkland Hospital in Dallas. She arrived in critical condition but sadly died there as well.