A sheriff blamed Beyoncé's new video for recent attacks against deputies

Tennessee sheriff blames Beyonce video for recent attacks.
(Image credit: Screenshot/Popsugar.com video)

On Monday night, someone drove past a Tennessee sheriff's office and fired at least six shots. The sheriff suggested it was part of a recent wave of attacks against law enforcement officials, The Tennessean reports.

"With everything that's happened since the Super Bowl,” Rutherford County Sheriff Robert Arnold said Tuesday, adding, "You know, Beyoncé's video."

Beyoncé's music video for "Formation," released earlier in February ahead of her Super Bowl halftime appearance, is a celebration of black women featuring references to the Black Lives Matter movement.

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"We all know, as soon as you put your uniform on, you're a target," Arnold said. "You make people mad when you're just doing your job."

Since protests ramped up after Michael Brown was shot in Ferguson, Missouri, law enforcement officials have erroneously tied less aggressive policing to higher crime rates. Julie Kliegman

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Julie Kliegman

Julie Kliegman is a freelance writer based in New York. Her work has appeared in BuzzFeed, Vox, Mental Floss, Paste, the Tampa Bay Times and PolitiFact. Her cats can do somersaults.