A Florida teen is facing two felony charges after police said he threatened two women with a machete and took part in voter intimidation or suppression tactics at an early voting site, police said.
Eighteen-year-old Caleb James Williams was the only adult of a group of eight young men who arrived at Beaches Branch Library in Neptune Beach Tuesday afternoon with what Neptune Beach Police Chief Michael Key Jr. said was a sole intent to "protest and antagonize the opposing political side." That antagonization went from parking to immediately "attacking" sign wavers, which escalated to Williams brandishing the machete "in an aggressive, threatened posture over his head" at two women, ages 71 and 54, Key said during a press conference.
Key did not share the political affiliations of Williams and the other 16 and 17-year-olds, but the Duval County Democratic Party said the sign wavers were supporters of the Harris-Walz Democratic campaign, meaning the group of men were supporters of the Trump-Vance Republican campaign.
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Police, who were called to the polling location soon after the group approached the sign wavers, arrested Williams for felony aggravated assault on a person 65 years or older and misdemeanor exhibition of a dangerous weapon. Neptune Police Department later said on Facebook that its ongoing investigation revealed new video footage that showed Williams "committing an additional crime of voter intimidation or suppression within the designated voting location," leaving him with another felony charge.
The other members of the male group "did not cross the criminal threshold for criminal charges at this point," Key said, but the investigation is ongoing.
"The group was there for no other reason but for ill intentions, to cause a disturbance," Key said during the press conference. "This goes way beyond expressing freedom of speech. To say your peace is your First Amendment-protected right, but that goes out the window the moment you raise a machete over your head in a threatening manner."
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Williams was being held at the Duval County Jail on $55,000 bail and made his first court appearance on Wednesday, the Associated Press reported. If he's released, the judge ordered him to stay 1,000 feet away from polling locations unless he's casting his own ballot and that he has to wear an ankle monitor, the publication reported.
Aggravated assault on a senior in Florida carries a three-year minimum sentence and a 15-year maximum sentence in Florida. There is no minimum sentence for the third-degree felony of voter suppression or intimidation.
Last week, a Texas man was arrested and now faces a felony charge after punching an elderly poll worker who told him to remove his "Make America Great Again" hat while he was at an early voting site. The suspect threw "several" punches at the 69-year-old poll worker's face and was booked on a third-degree felony of injury to an elderly person.
A Scripps News/Ipsos poll last week found 62% of respondents say violence related to this election is "somewhat" or "very likely." More than half even said they would support using the U.S. military to prevent potential threats around Election Day.
