Columbia's interim police chief is under scrutiny after some construed his response to a comment on the department's Facebook page as a threat, the State newspaper reports.

Chief Ruben Santiago responded to a comment on a news release posted Thursday night regarding the arrest of a suspect on a marijuana possession charge.

The person commenting said the department should focus less on busting people for pot and more on patrolling Five Points, where a University of South Carolina student was shot and wounded more than two weeks ago.

Santiago thanked the person for comments that might make police believe he's a criminal and wrote, "We will work on finding you."

On Friday, Santiago told The State of Columbia that he wasn't threatening anyone and learned a hard lesson about posting comments on social media. He also said he sent an apology to the person who made the comment.