A man was arrested after he allegedly drove his van through a GOP voter registration tent in Jacksonville, Florida, on Saturday.
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office (JSO) took 27-year-old Gregory William Loel Timm into custody after he reportedly plowed his vehicle into a tent belonging to the Republican Party of Duval County, according to First Coast News.
The report continued:
Witnesses told JSO that a man in his 20s driving an older brown Chevy van pulled up to the tent before driving through, running over their tables and chairs. Volunteers for the Republican Party were registering people to vote.
No volunteers were hurt, according to JSO. Witnesses said the driver of the van, stopped the vehicle, get out of the van and took a video while making obscene gestures before he left.
“I thought he was going to slow down, but he didn’t and he gunned his engine and headed straight,” said one of the volunteers, who also noted that she was almost hit by the van.
Detectives were called to the scene, but it remains unclear whether or not the alleged crime was politically motivated.
“We’re obviously going to follow that up and we take that very seriously,” said JSO Lieutenant Larry Gayle, adding, “Anybody who interrupts a political process in this country needs to be taken very seriously.”
Saturday, President Trump tweeted a warning to anyone plotting an attack against voters.
Prior to the event, Timm was reportedly being trained as a sound engineer for an international venue management and services company called ASM Global.
The suspect had recently joined the Jacksonville branch of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) union, according to the group’s president, Susan Phillips.
“We are just horrified,” she commented, adding that Timm was immediately suspended from the union and would not be given membership in the future.
Following the incident, Duval GOP Chairman Dean Black said the group was “outraged by this senseless act of violence toward our great volunteers.”
He continued:
The Republican Party of Duval County will not be intimidated by these cowards and we will not be silenced. I call on every Republican in our great city to stand up, get involved, and show these radicals that we will not be intimidated from exercising our Constitutional rights.
Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry retweeted photos taken at the scene of the alleged crime on Saturday.
The JSO tweeted Timm’s mugshot on Sunday, and stated that he faced several charges including aggravated assault.
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