The Lahoma Police Department provided this photo of a cross used in a Halloween night incident using Ku Klux Klan robes in Garfield County. Lahoma Police Chief Matt Hankins said the cross was held near a bonfire to look like it was burning, but it was not burned. Meanwhile, law enforcement confirmed another photo (not pictured) that drew attention to the incident on Facebook, but the identity of the photographer of the image could not be confirmed for publication.

LAHOMA, Okla. — An Oklahoma mayor has apologized for what she calls “a prank gone bad’ after her husband was photographed having had a bonfire dressed in Ku Klux Klan robes Saturday night.

“I don’t know what else to say except that I’m sorry to the community,” Lahoma Mayor Theresa Sharp told KOCO. “I’m sorry to the public. It was the stupidity and action of four separate individuals and it does not reflect on me or anybody else in the community.”

The incident occurred on property owned by Sharp in Lahoma, according to a report filed by the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office. On Halloween night a woman called police and reported seeing people burning a cross dressed in the hooded robes commonly associated with the white supremacist group, according to the report. 

Lahoma is located just 111 miles north west of Oklahoma City. Of the population of 633, 0.2 percent are black, according to the 2013 census.

Cary Kent Sharp, 47, of Lahoma is listed as a suspect in the report, which notes the offenders were suspected of drinking. He is married to Mayor Sharp.

Lahoma Police Chief Matt Hankins said Cary Sharp was not charged.

Mayor Sharp clarified she was nowhere near her property during the incident.

“I was out trick-or-treating with my son, and I in no way support the activities that occurred,” Mayor Sharp said. “I just don’t condone it regardless of who it is whether it’s my husband or Joe Smith around the corner. It’s not anything that I think needs to be represented for our community at all.”

Cary Sharp said no harm was meant.

“This is ridiculous, really,” Cary Sharp told the Enid, Oklahoma News. “It was a Halloween night.”

However, after the incident became public, Cary Sharp had a different outlook.

“Sit around the bonfire and drink a couple of beers and thought well my buddy his last name is White and the subject got brung up. We just thought it’d be something to do and it’s not something to do,” Cary Sharp said. “I am embarrassed. I’ve shamed my family and friends and I apologize for that. “I never realized it would be this harmful.”

Garfield County, Oklahoma Sheriff Jerry Niles said the woman who first reported the incident, Misty Meister, was extremely upset. 

“Hankins and I tried to explain to the woman that although in poor taste, the Constitution protects freedom of speech and that we can’t make them stop,” Garfield County Deputy Aaron Moore wrote in the report. “This further irritated the woman.”

Witnesses also said the group drove around in a golf cart scaring trick or treaters in the neighborhood.

“I advised the group why I was there, and that although I know it was a joke that they save them and myself anymore headaches to not burn anymore crosses,” Moore wrote in the report.

The sheriff said the cross in the photo was not burned, but there was a bonfire.

“There was no cross that burned,” Sharp said. “It was held behind the fire to look like it was burning, but there was no fire. The pictures we’ve seen claimed they were burning one, but there was not one burnt.”

Law enforcement confirmed a Facebook photo that drew attention to the incident. There were several comments and posts made about the incident and alleged activities during the evening.

Niles said the incident involved “bad decision making” and “very poor judgment.”

“It was done in very, very poor taste,” Niles said. “It brings up bad images of things that 99.9 percent of Americans, especially Oklahomans, are adamantly against. We’re all Americans, born and raised here, and we have a responsibility to honor the Constitution and the rights of others and feelings of others.”

Meister said she did not take this as a prank or a joke after seeing more than one person in robes with hoods.

“We are a small community, and in no way do I feel this represents our views as a whole,” Meister said. “It is upsetting due to the fact that we live in a community with families of different ethnic backgrounds, and this is a symbol of hate and intolerance.”

Meister said the community should not have been subjected to this display.

“However, many people and children were out for evening festivities,” she said. “Unfortunately, now this is something we have to talk to our children about.”

Collins writes for The Enid (Oklahoma) News