A California man has been arrested after allegedly attacking a group of President Trump supporters and striking an 84-year-old woman in the face.
“He took his hand way back like he was going to punch me, and [he] hit me right across the face,” 84-year-old Donna Snow told KCAL 9 News Los Angeles about the alleged attack at a Wednesday night Trump rally in Aliso Viejo, California. “Broke my earrings off.”
The Orange County Sheriff’s Office says a retired police officer stepped in, pulling his gun and apprehending the man who was allegedly armed with a knife at one point and screaming profanities at the group as he tried to flee.
Alvin Gary Shaw, 33, is in police custody facing charges of elder abuse, assault with a deadly weapon, and assault and battery.
Three other people were allegedly assaulted by Shaw during the fracas, and one person was taken to the hospital with a neck injury.
“This could have been a very serious incident,” Sgt. Dennis Breckner said about the incident. “In this case, this was just two groups that disagree, and while we support people and their using their First Amendment rights to put out their message, we prefer that that remain peaceful.”
Violence against Trump supporters has been common over the past few years, including an altercation late last month where police say a man fired a gun toward a crowd of Trump supporters rallying on a highway overpass.
Police in Delaware are currently searching for suspects they say threw eggs at a group of Trump supporters, striking several young children, in an alleged incident that comes days after hate crime charges were filed against two Delaware women suspected of attacking a 7-year-old boy and stealing his pro-Trump hat.
