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18-year-old accused of threatening voters with a machete at polling place
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18-year-old accused of threatening voters with a machete at polling place

(AP) – An 18-year-old boy Donald Trump Supporter faces felony charge after police say he threatened two people Kamala Harris with a seven-foot (60-centimeter) machete as his supporters campaigned outside an early voting site in Florida.

Neptune Beach police records show Caleb James Williams was charged with aggravated assault on a person 65 or older and misdemeanor display of a dangerous weapon.

Williams and seven others, ages 16 and 17, went to a library in suburban Jacksonville on Tuesday afternoon specifically “to protest and antagonize the opposing political side,” Police Chief Michael Key Jr. said. They started yelling at a group of Harris supporters carrying Trump flags, which escalated further.

Key showed an eyewitness photo of a smiling Williams “waving his machete above his head in an aggressive, threatening stance.” The Harris supporters allegedly threatening are women aged 71 and 54.

“This goes far beyond expressing freedom of speech. You have the right to say that your piece is protected by your First Amendment right, but the moment you raise the machete above your head, that goes out the window,” Key said. Neptune Beach is an upscale suburb of 7,000 people with an average income of $110,000, according to census records.

Williams, a restaurant waitress, was held in the Duval County Jail Wednesday afternoon on $55,000 bail after her initial court appearance. If the registered Republican is released, the judge ordered him to stay 1,000 feet away from any polling place except to cast his own ballot and wear an ankle monitor.

Police accused the suspect of intimidating voters at a polling place in Florida.
Police accused the suspect of intimidating voters at a polling place in Florida.

Duval Public Defender Charlie Cofer, who was assigned to Williams’ case, declined to comment. Williams’ father did not respond to messages left on his cell phone. The minimum sentence for aggravated assault on an elder in Florida is three years in prison. The maximum is 15.

Key said the seven teenagers who were with Williams did not appear to have committed any crime, but the investigation was ongoing.

Duval County Democratic Chairman Daniel Henry said Williams committed a “disturbing act of intimidation.”

“Violence and intimidation have no place in our democratic process. The Duval County Democratic Party stands with those who wish to express their views peacefully and without fear of retaliation. We urge all citizens to continue to participate in civic activities in a respectful and lawful manner,” Henry said in a statement.

Dean Black, Duval’s Republican chairman, thanked police for arresting Williams but said in a statement that Democrats and others were responsible for the angry political atmosphere surrounding the election.

“In a climate of high political tension, where President Trump has survived two assassination attempts and Republican supporters have been mocked as Nazis and called ‘trash’ by Joe Biden, we urge calm,” Black said.

President Biden, We are talking on Tuesday Of a comedian who called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage” at a Trump rally over the weekend, he said: “The only things I see floating trash out there are his supporters.”

19-year-old Pennsylvania man Thomas Matthew Crooks, who shot at Trump at the July rally, was a registered Republican but had donated $15 to a Democratic group. Crooks was killed by a Secret Service sniper.

Ryan Routh, Trump, who was accused last month of spying on Trump on his Florida golf course in hopes of hitting him, was once a registered Democrat but says he voted for Trump in 2016. He is currently a registered independent. He also wrote a book calling for Iran to assassinate Trump.