Teenage Trump supporter charged with threatening Harris supporters with machete at polling station

An 18 year old Donald Trump The supporter is charged with a felony after police said he threatened two Kamala Harris Supporters with a two-foot (60 centimeters) machete as they campaigned outside an early voting site in Florida.

Caleb James Williams is charged with aggravated assault on a person 65 years of age or older and negligent display of a dangerous weapon, Neptune Beach police records show.

Police Chief Michael Key Jr. said Williams and seven 16- and 17-year-olds deliberately drove to a suburban Jacksonville library Tuesday afternoon “to protest and antagonize the opposing political side.” They carried Trump flags and began shouting at a group of Harris supporters, which escalated.

Key showed a photo taken by a witness of a smiling Williams “wielding a machete above his head in an aggressive, threatening posture.” The Harris supporters he allegedly threatened were women ages 71 and 54.

“This goes far beyond freedom of expression. Saying your part is your First Amendment right, but that goes away the moment you raise a machete over your head,” Key said. Neptune Beach is an upscale suburb with 7,000 residents and a median income of $110,000, census records show.

Williams, a waiter at a restaurant, was being held in the Duval County Jail on $55,000 bail Wednesday afternoon after making his first court appearance. If the registered Republican is released, the judge ordered him to stay 300 meters (1,000 feet) from a polling place except to cast his own vote and to wear an ankle monitor. The Duval public defender's office assigned to represent him did not immediately respond to a call and email seeking comment. His father also did not respond to messages left on his cell phone. The minimum sentence for aggravated assault on a senior in Florida is three years in prison. The maximum is 15.

Key said the seven teens with Williams do not appear to have committed any crimes, but the investigation is 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 reprisal. We urge all citizens to continue to engage in civic activities respectfully and lawfully,” 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 an environment of high political tension, where President Trump has survived two assassination attempts and Republican supporters are derided as Nazis and called 'trash' by Joe Biden, we urge calm,” Black said.

President Biden, speaks on Tuesday About a comedian who called Puerto Rico “a floating island of trash” at a Trump rally over the weekend said, “The only trash I see floating out there is his supporters.”

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

Ryan Routh, Last month, he was charged with spying on Trump at his Florida golf course in hopes of shooting him. He 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 on Iran to assassinate Trump.