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© Republican Party of Duval CountyVan plows through Republican Party registration table.
The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office is reporting that a van drove through the Republican Party of Duval County's tent while they were registering voters Saturday afternoon.

The Republican Party of Duval County had six volunteers at the Kernan Village shopping center where they were registering voters. JSO reported that around 3:45 p.m., an older brown van, driven by a white man in his early 20s, approached the tent. He then drove right through the table and tent with his van. The suspect then stopped, got out of the van and took a video of the scene, flipped off the victims and fled. As of now, the suspect has not been identified.

"Kind of out of the blue, a man approached us in a van, was waving at us, kind of a friendly demeanor, thought he was coming up to talk to us, instead he accelerated his vehicle and plowed right into our tent, our tables," Alfieri said.

"After he ran over everything, he backed up, took out a cell phone, kind of recorded the damage, made some obscene gestures at us and then proceeded to leave the complex," Alfieri said.
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© Republican Party of Duval CountyThe driver of the brown van flipped off the volunteers before speeding away.
JSO is saying that intelligence detectives will be looking into this as an aggravated assault case as several people could have been seriously hurt.

They do not know if the motivation of the suspect was political in nature as the investigation is just starting.


"We are outraged by this senseless act of violence toward our great volunteers," said Duval GOP Chairman Dean Black. "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."

The Republican Party of Duval County posted on Facebook that they plan to redouble their efforts to register voters.

Daniel Henry, the President of the Duval County Democratic Party, released a statement saying he is condemning the attack.

"The Duval County Democratic Party condemns this cowardly act of violence. No one's life should be placed in danger for exercising their first amendment rights. As Democrats, but more importantly, as residents of this great city of Jacksonville, we call on our fellow citizens to act with dignity, civility and respect for one another during this election cycle and beyond. We look forward to JSO's arrest of the perpetrator."

President Donald Trump tweeted about the incident, saying "Law Enforcement has been notified. Be careful tough guys who you play with!"

Republican politicians like Senator Marco Rubio, Senator Rick Scott, GOP Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry are tweeting that they are thankful no one was hurt.





UPDATE 09/02/2020: The suspect has been identified as Gregory William Loel Timm, 27.
gregory tim van attack florida republicans
© Jacksonville Sheriff's OfficeJacksonville Sheriff's Office
Gregory Timm, 27, was arrested in Jacksonville, Florida, after allegedly deliberately driving a van into a tent full of Trump supporters who were working to register new voters at a shopping center parking lot on Feb. 8, 2020.
He has been arrested on two counts of aggravated assault on a person 65 years of age or older, one count of criminal mischief and for driving with a suspended license, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office.

Timm was a part of a local union, I.A.T.S.E. Local 115, according to the organization. He was a part of the group for 11 months.