FAIRVIEW PARK, Ohio — Fairview Park City Council President Michael Kilbane announced his resignation after receiving backlash online for a comment he posted following the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
The City of Fairview Park posted the following statement to Facebook on Saturday:
Earlier this week, Fairview Park residents were upset with Kilbane after he posted a controversial comment online regarding Kirk's death.
Hours after Kirk was shot in the neck at an event at Utah Valley University on Wednesday, Kilbane commented, “A lot of good people died today, Charlie Kirk wasn’t one of them,” on a post regarding Kirk’s death.
“I said how I honestly felt about something, in my opinion, I meant nobody any harm,” said Kilbane.
Since his comment, Kilbane said he has been receiving threats.
“I’ve been getting a lot of out-of-town hate mail, death threats and bomb threats. It’s awful what happened to him, I am sorry that happened to him, and political violence has no part in American democracy,” said Kilbane.
Kilbane argues that Kirk wasn’t a good person because of certain viewpoints.
“When he was asked about mass shootings at schools, he said that just comes with the territory. As in kids can get killed and it's all for the Second Amendment. It's awful what happened to him, but I guess you reap what you sow,” said Kilbane.
In response to his comment, community members in Fairview Park have organized a protest taking place at City Hall on Monday night at the next city council meeting.
Neighbors took their frustrations to social media. Fairview Park resident Jennifer Donnellan is urging people to show up and request Kilbane to be removed from his role as city council president.
“It’s important for everyone to show up because we cannot have a leader in local government who is encouraging political terrorism. Whether or not you live in Fairview Park, we the people have a responsibility to do what is right and that is to demand Michael Kilbane to resign his position. There are two children who will never see their father again and a wife who will never see her husband again,” said Donnellan.
The organization, Cuyahoga County Moms for Liberty, sent out a statement also requesting that Kilbane be removed.
“It's one thing to obviously not agree with everything that Charlie Kirk believes in or says, but to almost have words of like — celebratory for a brutal murder of a husband and a father in front of thousands is not right,” said chapter president Hilary Jackson.
On Friday, Mayor Bill Schneider posted a letter to residents on Facebook stating that "a mayor does not control city council, nor its speech, and cannot dismiss a councilmember."
Read the full letter below:
This isn’t the first time residents have been upset over a post by Kilbane. Back in 2023, people were upset over a deleted 2021 social media post. It was a response to the aftermath of the George Floyd killing and other race-related incidents involving the police and the Black community.
This is the statement the City of Fairview Park posted back in 2023 regarding his social media post.
Fairview Park police say they will be increasing security at Monday night's city council meeting.
A day after our report aired, police chief Paul Shepard said there is no imminent threat to neighbors. Shepard confirmed they were providing surveillance for Kilbane and suggested that he should relocate temporarily for peace of mind.
