OAKLAND, Calif. -- Gunfire outside Oakland’s City Hall while the City Council was in session on Tuesday elicited a joke caught on video that didn’t sit well with some of the gathered politicians, CBS San Francisco station KPIX-TV reports.

While the shooting was alarming enough, the casual joke made by a councilmember right after has made things worse.

In the video, Councilmember Annie Campbell Washington is seen standing after hearing the gunshots during a meeting.

“Is that gunfire?” Campbell Washington asks.

As she heads to the window, Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan takes the microphone.

“This is a Rorschach test: Who, when they hear gunfire, runs toward the window and who goes from the window?” asked Kaplan. “If you go toward the window, you probably live in an upscale neighborhood.”

As the other councilmembers in the room laugh, Campbell Washington is seen heading out the door.

The meeting continues as usual for a vote until the shooting is confirmed.

“I am absolutely still shaken from the incident,” Campbell Washington said when asked about the shooting.

Campbell Washington told KPIX-TV she ran out of the room to check on her 12-year-old daughter, who was outside City Hall. At a nearby intersection, police said one man was shot before being taken to a hospital.

“It was a very close call with my child,” said Campbell Washington. “I’m very shaken from that, and I know that every mother in the city feels the exact same way.”

The joke Kaplan told inside City Hall fell flat with other councilmembers.

“I think that’s just an inappropriate comment to make,” Councilmember Larry Reid said.

When KPIX-TV asked Kaplan about it, she replied, “The commentary that some neighborhoods struggle more with gun violence than other neighborhoods is a true fact.”

When asked if she could defend laughing after the shooting, Kaplan said the joke was about what happened in the council chamber.

“I was not laughing at the shooting,” said Kaplan. “My point is because the camera didn’t show the room, people didn’t know what I was referring to because there was a large crowd in the room and some of whom ran toward the window and some of whom ran from the window.”

Reid said the gunshots were no laughing matter in a city plagued by violence.

“This is downtown Oakland,” he said. “This is the heart of the city. It’s less than 100, maybe 200 feet from City Hall. And stuff like that is just insane.”

When asked if she would go back and change things after her fellow councilmember called her reaction inappropriate, Kaplan clarified her response.

“Well, I think it is essential that we make clear that we are taking action against gun violence, and that is the response that people need to understand,” said Kaplan.

Reid said he’s been working inside City Hall for 20 years, and this is not the first time he’s heard gunshots outside.

The councilmembers agreed that gun violence remains a major problem in Oakland, where there were 88 homicides last year.

They also said they are hopeful and confident that the city’s new police chief will help turn things around.