Brian Kilmeade, a longtime host on Fox News, apologized on Sunday, Sept. 14, after calling for the execution of homeless people with mental health conditions on live TV.

Kilmeade made the comments during the Sept. 10 broadcast of Fox & Friends, while the hosts were discussing the fatal train stabbing of Iryna Zarutska, a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee, in North Carolina on Aug. 22.

The case garnered national attention after the release of a security video of the stabbing. Police arrested Decarlos Brown Jr. on a charge of first-degree murder, and the suspect’s mother said he had a history of mental illness and was homeless at the time of the attack.

During Wednesday’s Fox & Friends episode, co-host Lawrence Jones suggested that people living with mental illness who refuse to accept help from publicly funded resources should “be locked up in jail.”

“Or involuntary lethal injection, or something,” Kilmeade chimed in. “Just kill ’em.”

Kilmeade’s remarks were widely shared over the weekend and drew notable backlash, with some calling for him to be fired from Fox News, which he joined in 1997.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom reposted a clip of Kilmeade’s remarks on Twitter accompanied by a proverb: “Whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor will himself call out and not be answered.”

Christine Quinn, president and CEO of Win, a provider of shelter and services for homeless women and children in New York City, invited Kilmeade to volunteer in one of the organization’s shelters. “Come volunteer in one of our shelters and see the face of homelessness for yourself — we could always use the help,” she said in a statement.

During an appearance on the Fox & Friends weekend show on Sunday, Kilmeade apologized.

“In the morning, we were discussing the murder of Iryna Zarutska in Charlotte, North Carolina, and how to stop these kinds of attacks by homeless, mentally ill assailants, including institutionalizing or jailing such people so they cannot attack again,” he said.

“Now during that discussion, I wrongly said they should get lethal injections,” he continued. “I apologize for that extremely callous remark. I am obviously aware that not all mentally ill homeless people act as the perpetrator did in North Carolina and that so many homeless people deserve our empathy and compassion.”

Fox & Friends is one of the most popular cable news morning shows, averaging 1.3 million viewers in August. Kilmeade also hosts a daily radio program, The Brian Kilmeade Show.