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GOP, Democrats Condemn Attack On Trump Volunteers In Jacksonville

This photo from the Duval County GOP shows some of the damage Saturday after a man drove his van through a campaign tent.
Duval County GOP
This photo from the Duval County GOP shows some of the damage Saturday after a man drove his van through a campaign tent.

Widespread condemnation has been pouring in since a weekend attack against Republican Party volunteers signing up voters at the Walmart Supercenter at Atlantic and Kernan boulevards.

Monday on First Coast Connect with Melissa Ross, Florida State College at Jacksonville Political Science Professor Daniel Cronrath said it's not clear whether the attack was politically motivated. He said the suspect, Gregory Timm, was allegedly acting in a criminal manner that is not reflective of a larger group of people.

“It only takes one or two - and I hate to use this expression, but it's appropriate – it only takes one or two bad actors or one or two folks who are disturbed in some way to really, really paint with a broad brush,” Cronrath said.

Timm, 27, is accused of driving his van through a campaign tent where six Trump campaign volunteers were working. None of them was injured.

Timm was arrested on charges including aggravated assault on a person over 65, criminal mischief and driving on a suspended driver’s license. At his first appearance before a judge, Timm was ordered held on $530,000 bond, according to WJCT News partner News4Jax.

At a Monday news conference, Duval County Republican Chairman Dean Block called Saturday's attack "un-American," saying "this is not who we are."

Both Democratic and Republican parties quickly condemned the attack over the weekend.

In a rare show of unity, the Duval Democratic Party also applauded Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio’s Twitter comments following the attack:

President Donald Trump and Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry also weighed in:

First Coast Connect with Melissa Ross received many phone calls Monday morning with opinions about the attack and the state of politics.Listen to Monday’s First Coast Connect with Melissa Ross here.

Contact reporter Cyd Hoskinson at choskinson@wjct.org, 904-358-6351 and on Twitter at @cydwjctnews.

Bill joined WJCT News in September of 2017 from The Florida Times-Union, where he served in a variety of multimedia journalism positions.