Missouri Gov. Mike Parson on Thursday pushed back against Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s defense of three senators sued for sharing false posts about the Kansas City Chiefs parade shooting.

Parson, a Republican who appointed Bailey, told a gaggle of reporters that it was “problematic” when asked about the state defending the Republican state senators.

“We’ll be making a statement on that before long,” Parson said, according to a video of his remarks shared on social media by a Nexstar TV station reporter. “But I’m gonna tell you this: we are not gonna target innocent people in this state.”

Bailey, a Republican, has faced intense criticism from lawmakers of both parties for his office’s defense of the Republican senators: Rick Brattin of Harrisonville, Denny Hoskins of Warrensburg, and Nick Schroer of St. Charles County.

All three senators, members of the hard-right Missouri Freedom Caucus, were each sued last month for posts falsely claiming that Denton Loudermill, an Olathe native, was an undocumented immigrant and a shooter in the February shooting that killed one person and injured more than 20.

An onslaught of social media posts, including from the senators, used Loudermill’s image, falsely claiming that he was one of the shooters. He was not and has said police detained him because he wasn’t leaving the area of the shooting quickly enough, but that he was released after about 30 to 45 minutes.

“This gentleman did nothing wrong whatsoever other than he went to a parade, and he drank beer and he was Hispanic,” said Parson, despite the fact that Loudermill is Black. “We’re just not going to attack citizens, in Missouri or anywhere else, just because we think we have the power to do such.”

Parson, who was at the parade when the shooting happened, said that “there will be more to be said on that in the near future, but I’m telling you, it’s problematic.”

When asked whether he was arguing that Bailey would not defend the three senators, Parson responded that he didn’t “know what the AG’s gonna do. I’m gonna just tell you what I’m gonna do, you know. But I don’t agree.”

Bailey’s office, in a court filing last week, argued that Brattin was acting in his official capacity and was protected by “absolute legislative immunity.”

The motion also argued that the lawsuit, filed in Kansas federal court, should be dismissed because the shooting, posts, and Brattin himself were all based in Missouri.

Parson appeared to agree with the second argument, saying “there’s a jurisdiction issue that I do believe needs to be addressed — you know, whether you go to Kansas or whether you don’t.”

But he also appeared to take issue with the legislative immunity claim from Bailey’s office.

“Politicians have to be responsible and have to be held to a higher standard when you start attacking citizens in our state,” he said. “You don’t get a free pass just because you’re a politician.”