Shooting the messenger: Deputies use reporter's face for target practice
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Apparently unhappy with one of his recent reports, deputies used an investigative journalist's face for target practice at the Sheriff's office shooting range.
Fox 8 found a photograph of its reporter Lee Zurik had been pinned on the target and shot at by police officers in St Bernard, New Orleans.
The unsettling discovery came after the reporter uncovered a long list of people - dozens of whom work for the Sheriff's office - who may have been involved in voter fraud in a local election in November.
Taking aim: Fox 8 found a photograph of its reporter Lee Zurik had been pinned on the target and shot at by police officers in St Bernard, New Orleans
Records show on two of the days when Zurik's picture was used in target practice, some of the officers at the firearms training class were the same ones at the center of the voting controversy, reports Fox 8.
Sheriff Jack Stephens claims he never sensed any hostility among deputies but admitted it happened more than once.
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Share'I don't think there was anything sinister about it. I don't think it was meant to be a threat. But it points out the responsibility of people in this line of work and how their actions affect other people.
'It's one thing for a civilian to be doing something like that, but it's totally different for a commissioned officer to be doing something like that.' he told Fox 8.
Apology: Sheriff Jack Stephens, left, publicly apologised to journalist Lee Zurik saying there was never any threat intended by his department
Zurik's investigation exposed people who voted in the October 22 election in St. Bernard Parish, even though they have not lived there since Hurricane Katrina.
Louisiana Secretary of State Tom Schedler told Fox 8 at the time, if those voters had homestead exemptions in other parishes, voting in St. Bernard Parish would be against the law.
The Sheriff's race was down to two candidates, Wayne Landry and Chief Deputy Jimmy Pohlman, however the vote challenges came too late, so everyone in question was allowed to cast a ballot.
Records show on two of the days when Zurik's picture was used in target practice, some of the officers at the training were the same ones at the center of the voting controversy
Pohlman won the Sheriff's race with 60 percent of the vote.
Sheriff Stephens said that although the incident did not violate any laws, it was in bad taste and the department had been banned from using celebrity portraits in target practice.
He offered Zurik a public apology, telling Fox 8: 'Really, I want to apologize to Lee. I hope he accepts the apology of me and the department because there was never any ill-will or threat intended by it.'
Speaking on Fox 8, Zurik said the first thing he thought when he saw the picture of himself being used as target practice was: 'How my wife, my parents, my in-laws, and my family would react. I was worried my two little girls would see the picture.'
However, the father-of-two added: 'The facts in this story won't ever change what we do. It won't change the way we investigate or ask questions.'
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