Knox County, TN, officials debated on Monday whether or not to approve a strongly worded response to a detective who delivered a sermon at his church earlier this month that called for state-sponsored execution of members of the LGBTQ community.
According to Knox News, Detective Grayson Fritts—who is also a pastor at a local church—delivered a sermon in early June in which he said that the government should arrest and execute members of the LGBTQ community.
Before the vote, Sheriff Tom Spangler addressed the Commission saying the comments were nothing more than "violent and hate-filled speech" and were not a reflection of the Sheriff's Office as a whole.