Fox News reporter worries that 'typical bad guy' terrorists will escape if skin colour is covered

The comments were made in a discussion about arming police like soldiers

Shannon Bream asked how terrorists could be identified if their faces were covered (YouTube)

A Fox News reporter responded to suggestions that police should be militarised to deal with attacks in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo murders by asking whether terrorists could be identified if the colour of their skin was not visible.

Shannon Bream, the Supreme Court reporter for the US news channel, voiced her concerns that suspects of criminal acts in the name of religion would not be caught if their ethnicity was covered by balaclavas or other garments.

She made the comments during a live discussion with four members of a Fox News panel after 12 people were murdered during an attack on the offices of the satirical magazine in Paris on Wednesday.

Gun suspects Said and Cherif Kouachi, brothers who are reported to have been born in France to Algerian immigrant parents before becoming orphans, are allegedly on the run from police in a widespread manhunt across northern parts of the country.

Said and Cherif Kouachi are suspected of carrying out the Paris shooting

Bream said: “If we know they were speaking unaccented French and they had ski masks on, do we even know what colour they were or what the tone of their skin was?

“I mean, what if they didn’t look like typical bad guys, as we define them when we think about terror groups?”

Prior to her insinuation that “typical” terror suspects look a certain way and have a distinct skin tone that would single them out in a crowd, co-host Kennedy Montgomery said that she believed that “sometimes bad guys don’t look like bad guys.”

Bolling said: “Right after 9/11, the New York City cops would do shows of force. Heavily armed cops would walk around buildings, they would show up anywhere.

“Twelve cop cars would line up and get out with their full-body gear and machine guns just to show the bad guys they’re there. That’s kinda gone away. Maybe it’s time to bring it back.”

Montgomery replied: “There has to be a difference, there has to be a line. Your police department should not look like your armed forces. I don’t want cops walking around heavily armed.”

After accusing him of wanting to live in a police state, Montgomery then suggests that another potential solution to deal with rampant murderers is for Americans to arm themselves.

Bolling responded: “Me too!”

The pair concluded the discussion by high-fiving live on-air.