Officials in Jacksonville, Florida, have arrested a 27-year-old man who allegedly drove his vehicle into a crowd of Trump campaigners outside a shopping mall as they registered people for a vote on Jan. 8.
Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office named the suspect on Facebook as Gregory William Loel Timm and confirmed he has been charged with two counts of aggravated assault on a person 65 years of age or older, one count of criminal mischief, and driving while driver’s license suspended.
Police said six volunteers were registering voters at the time the incident took place at Kernan Village shopping center in Jacksonville, Florida.
An earlier tweet from from the Republican Party of Duval County said the incident took place at 2:45 p.m, and that the vehicle was driven by a white male.
“Today in Jacksonville, Florida, six Trump campaign volunteers were intentionally targeted while registering voters,” They wrote alongside images from the alleged attack which showed a voting tent turned on its side and police cars parked next to the scene of the incident.
The party said that a “multi-colored brown and gold van driven by what is described as a white male in his 20s or 30s, accelerated into a crowd of volunteers at the Kernan Village shopping center located at 11900 Atlantic Boulevard.”
Republican volunteers managed to escape being hit by the vehicle and the driver, who is yet to be identified, sped away after making an “obscene gesture toward the crowd,” the party said.
CNN reports that before making the “obscene gesture,” and leaving the scene, the man also exited the vehicle at and began filming the crowd.
The Republican Party of Duval County added that it plans to “redouble its efforts to register voters and will continue it’s fight with renewed intensity to re-elect President Donald Trump.”
‘We are outraged by this senseless act of violence toward our great volunteers,” Duval GOP Chairman Dean Black said.
“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 called the incident “outrageous” and confirmed that there were no injuries and officials were now investigating the incident.
“I just spoke to the local GOP chair. This is outrageous. The hate is toxic and dangerous,” he wrote on Twitter.
“Thankfully no one was injured but certainly they are shaken after being targeted because they were registering voters. I’ve spoken to the Sheriff and of course his team is on top of this.”
Volunteer Nina Williams told local media outlet, News4Jax that she had seen the truck from the corner of her eye before it accelerated towards the crowd of volunteers.
“It happened so quickly. I was moving from one point to approach the truck, and he (the driver) just sped, it just happened so quickly that I barely got out of the way,” the visibly shaken volunteer said.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump wrote on Twitter about the incident saying, “Law Enforcement has been notified. Be careful tough guys who you play with!”
