An 18-year-old Donald Trump supporter was arrested and charged after police said he threatened Kamala Harris supporters with a machete outside a polling place in Florida on Tuesday.
The teen, Caleb James Williams, was part of a group of people who were at the Beaches Branch Library in Neptune Beach “to protest and antagonize the opposing political side,” Neptune Beach Police Chief Michael J. Key Jr. told reporters Tuesday night.
The group approached Harris supporters and, after an argument broke out, Williams “brandished a machete in an aggressive, threatening posture over his head,” Key said. “The group was there for no other reason but for ill intentions, to cause a disturbance.”
Williams has been charged with felony aggravated assault on a person 65 or older and misdemeanor exhibition of a dangerous weapon, The Associated Press reported, citing police records. The people he is accused of threatening are two unidentified women ages 71 and 54, police said. Williams is being held at the Duval County Jail; neither the public defender’s office nor Williams’ father returned the AP’s request for comment.
Duval County Democratic Party Chair Daniel Henry said he was “deeply concerned” about the alleged incident, “where a group of young men carrying Trump flags, with one individual armed with a machete, confronted peaceful Harris-Walz sign-wavers exercising their First Amendment rights.” The Duval County GOP issued a statement thanking law enforcement and encouraging “calm as we approach the end of this election season,” while also referencing the assassination attempts on the party’s presidential candidate and attempting to implicate recent comments by President Joe Biden.
Key said that, while no charges have been filed against others in Williams’ group, the investigation is ongoing. With early voting underway in several states, other incidents of voter intimidation have been reported at polling sites elsewhere. Last week, a man from Loxahatchee, Florida, was arrested and charged with voter intimidation and interference after he allegedly yelled antisemitic and racial slurs at a woman who was campaigning for a Republican candidate outside an early voting site. Also last week, a man in Texas was charged after allegedly punching a poll worker who told him to remove his pro-Trump hat inside the polling location, which is barred under state law. As tensions remain high in the final days of the race — and as Trump continues to escalate his violent rhetoric — election experts have raised concerns about the potential for violence against poll workers and voters. Election officials have increased security around polling places to better safeguard poll workers, voters and election infrastructure. Millions more voters are expected to cast their ballot in the coming days.
Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.
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