Fredricka Whitfield, a CNN anchor, is apologizing for using the words “courageous and brave” to describe James Boulware, a suspect, who opened fire outside a Dallas police station on Saturday morning.
Fredricka Whitfield made an enormous gaffe on Saturday, and now, she is sorry. Whitfield was anchoring CNN Newsroom when she described the suspect in the attack on Dallas Police Department as “courageous and brave.”
Whitfield, 50, was talking to a legal analyst for the cable news network named Philip Holloway and said:
“It was very courageous and brave, if not crazy as well, to open fire on the police headquarters, and now you have this scene, this standoff.”
Holloway tried to take things in a different direction and replied with:
“I think the Dallas police did an excellent job handling this situation, and we’re very fortunate that no one other than the suspect was injured.”
Whitfield’s poor choice of words was slammed on social media, and many commentators went as far as saying that the moment was a sign of incompetence. Few people did come to the defense of the former NBC News correspondent by saying that courage is usually defined as “the ability and willingness to confront fear, pain, danger, uncertainty, or intimidation.”
Brave is often linked to “people who are ready to face and endure danger or pain.” Despite having dictionaries on her side, Whitfield decided to apologize on Sunday. The mother of three stated:
“I misspoke, and in no way believe the gunman was courageous, nor brave.”
James Boulware was killed by a sniper after a standoff with SWAT officers. Boulware’s motives for the attack are not totally clear. However, he was arrested in 2013 and lost custody of his son to his mother, Jeannine Hammond, because the parents were deemed unfit to have sole custody of the child.
Hammond said her son had mental issues and because of his violent past, she lived in constant fear.