FARGO, ND – A Fargo City Commissioner says he is pushing for change within the Fargo Police Department.
Commissioner Dave Piepkorn confirmed to Flag Family News on Tuesday afternoon that if Chief David Zibolski doesn’t resign before the next Fargo City Commission meeting, he will put forward a request to have the chief dismissed from his position.
The next city commission meeting is scheduled for August 18.
The frustrations surround a delay in addressing a critical event, after two people were killed early Sunday morning in two separate shootings. Zibolski and Mayor Tim Mahoney issued a joint statement at 5:31 p.m. Sunday, nearly 16 hours after the first shooting took place in the 50 block of Broadway at 1:56 a.m., followed by the second shooting a half-hour later in the 4700 block of 16th Avenue South.
Fargo Mayor Dr. Tim Mahoney said Monday, in an interview with The Flag’s Scott Hennen, that he had asked the chief, who was out of state at the time, about having a press conference sometime Sunday morning to update the media and public on the shootings. Mahoney says Zibolski responded by saying “we don’t [know] much [and] we don’t need to do that.”
The mayor said he told Zibolski ‘You can’t do that. The community is not used to shootings and things that happen in that type of extent.”
At Monday night’s City Commission meeting, Piepkorn called having a press conference the day after an event like Sunday’s ‘embarassing.’
“People didn’t know what the hell to do at 1:30 in the morning,” he said. “We don’t need a day later press conference covering your (expletive).”
Zibolski was appointed as Fargo’s Chief of Police in 2020.
