And so it has begun.

A top elected official in Texas recently made a Facebook comment that made several of his followers cringe.

Burnet County Judge James Oakley shared a mugshot of a man suspected of killing a police officer recently with the caption ‘time for a tree and a rope’.

While he clearly saw nothing wrong with posting the call for lynching, the judge has now issued a formal apology.

Details below…

According to TheGrio County Judge James Oakley is under fire after posting to Facebook calling for a lynching after seeing the mugshot of a black suspect accused of killing a police officer.

The post, which was captured in the screen shot above prior to it being deleted, was noting the arrest of Otis Tyron McCan, a man suspected of killing a San Antonio police detective.

“Time for a tree and a rope,” Oakley wrote under Otis Tyrone McKane’s mugshot in a Facebook post.

McKane was arrested on Monday for the death of police Det. Benjamin Marconi. Marconi was shot and killed while sitting in his cruiser at a traffic stop.

The post is no longer on Oakley’s Facebook page, but the comment was posted from his personal account prior to being deleted.

For the record, County Judge James Oakley has since issued a public apology about the comment, where he admits his words were “off the cuff” and “indeed curt and harsh” but CLAIMS that he would have used the same words “regardless of ethnicity.”

What do you think of this blatant racist sitting judge?

Shocked? or Nah?