San Francisco police chief Greg Suhr resigns after officer shot unarmed black woman

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BREAKING NEWS: San Francisco police chief resigns hours after officer shot an unarmed black woman amidst mounting racial tensions
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Greg Suhr stepped down Thursday following a request from Mayor Ed Lee
Comes as a result of mounting racial issues and criticism of department
The 27-year-old woman was reportedly shot dead in a stolen vehicle
It was the third fatal shooting by a city cop in the past six months
Critics say police in the city are too quick to use their guns, especially when confronting minorities

By Wills Robinson For Dailymail.com

Published: 19:23 EST, 19 May 2016 | Updated: 20:17 EST, 19 May 2016

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San Francisco's police chief has resigned hours after a city officer killed an unarmed black woman.

Greg Suhr stepped down Thursday following a request from Mayor Ed Lee as a result of a series of controversies.

Police shootings have created mounting racial tensions with minorities and have led to criticism against the department.

A group of officers were also caught sending racist and homophobic text messages to colleagues,

The 27-year-old black victim shot dead on Thursday was reportedly sitting behind the wheel of a stolen car.

San Francisco's police chief Greg Suhr (pictured) has resigned hours after a city officer killed an unarmed black woman

The 27-year-old black victim shot dead on Thursday was reportedly sitting behind the wheel of a stolen car. Her name and the identity of the officer involved has not been released (scene pictured)

Her name and the identity of the officer involved has not been released.

I have previously expressed confidence in Chief Suhr... But following this morning’s officer-involved shooting and my meeting with Chief Suhr this afternoon, today I have arrived at a different question of how best to move forward

Part of statement by San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee

It was the third fatal shooting of a suspect by San Francisco police within the past six months.

The deadly incidents have prompted critics to say police in the city are too quick to use their guns, especially when confronting minorities.

The shooting of Mario Woods, a black man suspected in a stabbing, in December promoted a backlash against the department.

A scandal also erupted after officers within the department were accused of sending racist texts to each other.

Investigators found the text messages on the personal phones of former officer Jason Lai and retired Lt. Curtis Liu during criminal probes.

Transcripts of the messages denigrated minority suspects with racial slurs and insulted colleagues they perceived to be gay.

They ridiculed blacks in Ferguson, Missouri, where police shot and killed Michael Brown, an unarmed black man.

One of them referred to a picture of a burnt turkey as a 'Ferguson turkey'.

Suhr stepped down Thursday following a request from Mayor Ed Lee as a result of mounting racial issues and criticism against the department

Investigators are seen at the site of the shooting on Thursday. It was the third fatal shooting of a suspect by San Francisco police within the past six months

Lai resigned in April and Lui retired last year. The unidentified officer also resigned and a fourth officer also implicated in the texting scandal Suhr declined to identify is facing dismissal before the city's Police Commission.

Lee named former deputy chief Toney Chaplin as the new chief.

He said in a statement: 'I have previously expressed confidence in Chief Suhr because I know he agrees with and understands the need for reform.

'But following this morning’s officer-involved shooting and my meeting with Chief Suhr this afternoon, today I have arrived at a different question of how best to move forward.'

RACIST TEXT MESSAGES ON THE PERSONAL PHONES OF FORMER OFFICER JASON LAI, RETIRED Lt. CURTIS LIU AND AN UNNAMED OFFICER

They ridicule blacks in Ferguson, Missouri. where police shot and killed Michael Brown, an unarmed black man, calling a picture of a burnt turkey a 'Ferguson turkey.'

They discuss a shootout among black men and the shooting of an armed suspect by police. In doing so, they appear to ridicule the shooting death by police in 2014 of a mentally ill man carrying a stun gun officers mistook for a gun.

They also exchanged photographs with racist captions.

One photo depicts a white man playfully spraying a young black child with a garden hose.The caption calls the young boy a racial slur.

San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi gestures while standing beside a picture of police officer Jason Lai, one of the officers accused of sending racist text messages

There's a photo of smoke rising above San Francisco and guesses are exchanged about the origins of the fire.

'Must be Korean BBQ,' quips one.

'I heard was a slave ship!!' quips another.

Texts discovered during an investigation into the ongoing 2015 sexual assault scandal involving Lai feature messages including 'F*** that n*g' and 'Indian ppl are disgusting'.

Officials were reading through the huge haul of evidence when they found the messages, which had been sent by at least four officers.

'I hate that beaner,' one text read, using a derogatory word for Hispanic people. 'But I think the n*g is worse.'

'Indian ppl are disgusting,' said another message.

'Burn down walgreens and kill the bums,' a third message read.

In one text Lai makes a joke about President Barack Obama and says he hates Cleveland basketball player LeBron James.

'F*** that n*g,' the text reads.

In several texts, Lai makes references to 'hock gwai', which appears to be a misspelled reference to 'hak gwai', a Cantonese derogatory phrase for African Americans.

In texts sent last June, the messages describe a 'bunch of hock gwais shooting each other'.

'Sprained my ankle over these barbarians,' he said.

The officer texted that one of the suspects 'went to the hospital after he got shot lol'.

'Too bad none of them died,' he added. 'One less to worry about.'

In an exchange that happened during the riots in Baltimore following the death of Freddie Gray, Lai wrote, 'They're like a pack [of] wild animals on the loose', referring to African Americans.

In a message sent to Lai on another occasion, a person described an 'on-duty' accident from 2015.

'Some dumb Asian chick driving for Uber didn't look and changed lanes right into my car,' the texter said.

Some of Lai's texts were sent after the first scandal made headlines, and at one point made a joke about being the subject of an internal affairs investigation.

'R U READING THIS IA?' he texted.