Trump supporter charged after allegedly threatening Harris campaigners with machete

18 years old Donald Trump supporter arrested and charged after police say he made threats Kamala Harris machete-wielding supporters outside a polling station in Florida on Tuesday.

The teenager, Caleb James Williams, was part of a group of people who were at the Beaches Branch Library in Neptune Beach to “protest and confront the opposing political side,” Neptune Beach Police Chief Michael J. Key Jr. said. told reporters Tuesday evening.

The group approached Harris’ supporters, and after an argument broke out, Williams “swinged the machete in an aggressive, threatening position above his head,” Key said. “The group was only there with bad intentions to cause a disturbance.”

Williams was charged with aggravated assault on a person 65 years of age or older and display of a dangerous weapon. This is reported by the Associated Presswith reference to police materials. The people he accuses of making threats are two unidentified women, ages 71 and 54, police said. Williams is being held in the Duval County Jail; neither the public defender’s office nor Williams’ father responded to the AP’s request for comment.

Duval County Democratic Party Chairman Daniel Henry said he was “deeply troubled” by the alleged incident, “where a group of youths carrying Trump flags, one of whom was armed with a machete, confronted the Harris-Waltz peace signs, exercising their First Amendment rights. rights”. Duval County Republican Party issued a statement thanking law enforcement and encouraging “calmness as we approach the end of this election season,” while also mentioning the attempted assassination of the party’s presidential candidate and the attempted involvement in recent comments by President Joe Biden.

Key said that while no charges have been filed against other members of Williams’ group, the investigation is ongoing.

As early voting continues in several states, other incidents of voter intimidation have been reported at polling stations elsewhere. Last week there was a man from Loxahatchee, Florida arrested and charged with voter intimidation and intervention after he allegedly yelled anti-Semitic and racial slurs at a woman campaigning for the Republican candidate outside an early voting location. Also last week, a man was charged in Texas allegedly hit a station employee who told him to remove his pro-Trump hat at the polls, which is prohibited by state law.

As tensions remain high in the final days of the race — and Trump continues to do so sharpen their aggressive rhetoric — election experts have expressed concern about the potential for violence against employees of the precincts and voters. Election officials have strengthening of security around polling stations to the best to protect polling station workers, voters and election infrastructure. Millions more voters are expected to vote in the coming days.

This article was originally published on MSNBC.com