The hosts of "Fox & Friends" criticized South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg for his handling of a town hall event that turned chaotic Sunday over his administration's handling of a police-involved shooting.

Host Brian Kilmeade said the video from the event made Buttigieg look "small when he needed to look big" and he seemed "detached from the community."

In his opening remarks, the 37-year-old Buttigieg, a Democrat and candidate for president, said he would send a letter to the Justice Department requesting that its civil rights division look into the June 16 shooting of 54-year-old Eric Logan, who was black. The mayor added that he would notify the local prosecutor that he'd like an independent investigator appointed.

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Prosecutors said the shooting of Logan was not recorded by Sgt. Ryan O'Neill's body camera.

O'Neill, who is white, was responding to a report of a suspicious person breaking into cars when investigators said he fired one shot that hit Logan and another that missed after Logan threatened him with a knife. The investigators said O'Neill's body camera wasn't automatically activated because he was driving slowly without emergency lights while looking through an apartment building parking lot. O'Neill has since been placed on administrative leave.

At one point, hecklers screamed "traitor" at the mayor for what they believed was his stance on the side of the police department.

“He looked overwhelmed by women, he looked small when he needed to look big,” said Kilmeade. "He seemed detached from the community. What was going on in his mind, we didn’t know because he didn’t do much talking."

Host Rachel Campos-Duffy expressed surprise that Buttigieg chose to sit behind a desk, saying when her husband -- Rep. Sean Duffy, R-Wis. -- holds town hall events he is always standing so he can engage with the audience.

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"This a moment for him to prove he's presidential and even just his body language looks weak and not in control," she said.

Host Steve Doocy noted the difficulty of running for president and having to travel around the country when you're the mayor of a city.

"If you're out on the trail ... and something breaks out, you notice that the mayor is not there. ... You miss the mayor," he said.

Fox News' Samuel Chamberlain contributed to this story.