Arizona: Gov. Hobbs' Spokesperson Sparks Gun Violence Issue, Resigns

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs's spokesperson has resigned after the representative posted a social media post invoking gun violence hours after the Nashville school shooting.

AZ Central reported that the Governor's Office confirmed Press Secretary Joselyn Berry's resignation.

The communication director for Hobbs's administration, Murphy Hebert, said that the governor asked the spokesperson to file her resignation.

Hobbs's office released a statement, saying that the governor "does not condone violence in any form." The statement added that the post of the press secretary does not reflect the value of the administration.

Berry's post caused an uproar, with conservatives dubbing it tone-deaf, offensive, and opposite to criticism from progressives that Republicans are doing too little about gun violence.

The post has been long deleted, and access to Berry's Twitter account has been turned private, which can only be viewed by her approved followers.

Katie Hobbs's Spokesperson

The former spokesperson of Katie Hobbs posted an image from "Gloria," a 1980 film, showing one woman holding a gun in both hands.

The governor's spokesperson captioned it with "us when we see transphobes," as reported by The Independence.

The tweet was since then used by Republicans and right-wing figures, saying that the post was pushing for violence.

The Arizona Freedom Caucus tweeted on Tuesday night that "calling for violence like this is un-American" and unacceptable.

The caucus has been against the governor on several occasions, with threats to sue Hobbs over her first executive order. It extended protections against discrimination to also include gender.

Caucus leader state Senator Jake Hoffman said that Berry was "threatening to shoot people Democrats disagree with" in just less than 12 hours after the Nashville school shooting.

Berry was known to have joined the Arizona governor's administration after the November election. She used to work as a spokesperson for the Arizona Democratic Party.

Nashville School Shooting

Two officers who responded to the incident are hailed as heroes for ending the shooting rampage at the Christian elementary school.

Three children and three staff members were killed in the incident.

The police officers were identified as Rex Engelbert and Michael Collazo. Metro Nashville Police Department released the body camera videos of the two, according to USA Today.

The shooter was identified as 28-year-old Audrey Hale, who was a former student of the school. She was dead less than 15 minutes later, with police describing the attack as "calculated and planned."

Authorities said Engelbert fired at least three shots at Hale while Collazo fired four rounds at the mass shooter.

Metro Nashville Police Chief John Drake said that the law enforcement had recovered a notebook belonging to Hale, with around 60 pages in it. It was not immediately detailed whether the notebook had any writings.

Drake said the attacker may have had "some resentment" toward the school.

Meanwhile, a former teacher, Maria Colomy, described Hale as a "talented artist" and was grieving about the death of a romantic partner.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: Gov. Hobbs' secretary resigns after apparent controversial tweet about 'transphobes' - from ABC 15 Arizona