Amid nationwide outrage over a police officer’s shooting eight bullets at the back of an unarmed, fleeing suspect in South Carolina, the statement by the local police union had a half-sentence of regret and contrition: Yes, it said, the fatal shooting was “beyond comprehension.”

But the rest of the seven-paragraph statement by John C. Blackmon, the president of Tri-County Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 3 in South Carolina, was more about lashing out at the “untruths” of critics and defending the police than reflecting on the shots fired by Michael T. Slager, the North Charleston police officer who killed Walter L. Scott.

“Do not allow the professional race agitators to seize this moment to advance their often self-serving opinions of what is wrong in South Carolina,” said the statement, which was issued on April 9. That was two days after a video surfaced showing Officer Slager, 33, gunning down Mr. Scott, 50, in a field beside a muffler shop on the edge of North Charleston.

“Do not allow them to bemoan the lack of trust of police by the minority community,” the statement added. “Do not allow them to beat down the hardworking men and women of the Lowcountry’s law enforcement.”