Photo: AP

Just hours after one of his officers shot and killed an apparently unarmed black woman, San Francisco Police Chief Greg Suhr resigned on Thursday at the urging of Mayor Ed Lee, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

“I have previously expressed confidence in Chief Suhr because I know he agrees with and understands the need for reform,” said Lee at a press conference Thursday evening. “But following this morning’s officer-involved shooting and my meeting with Chief Suhr this afternoon, today I have arrived at a different conclusion to the question of how best to move forward.”

Thursday’s shooting was just the latest in a series of deadly police shootings and racially-charged controversies that have occurred under Suhr’s command. From the Associated Press:

Pressure had been mounting for the resignation of Chief Greg Suhr since December, when five officers fatally shot a young black man carrying a knife.

Mayor Ed Lee stood behind the chief after the shooting and later when it was disclosed in April that three officers had exchanged racist text messages.

But the mayor said he asked for the chief’s resignation Thursday after a sergeant shot and killed a 27-year-old woman as he tried to pull her out of a stolen car she had crashed into a parked truck.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, there was “no immediate indication” the woman had a weapon or was trying to hit police with the vehicle.

Lee says Suhr, who was first appointed in 2011, will be replaced by Toney Chaplin, a former deputy chief with a record of promoting police accountability and commitment to the city’s diverse communities.