Law enforcement officials in South Daytona, Florida, said on Monday that several gunshots were fired into the Volusia County Republican Party’s office, resulting in shattered windows and damaged drywall (pictured above right).
One party official told The Daily Wire he believes the attack was politically motivated.
“We have never had any kind of vandalism before at a Republican headquarters,” Tony Ledbetter (pictured above left), chairman of Volusia County’s Republican Party, said in an email to The Daytona Beach News-Journal, The Daily Wire reported
“It’s a small strip center and no other business was vandalized, so it was obviously politically motivated.”
Law enforcement personnel are investigating the shooting.
“At this point we can confirm that at least four rounds were fired into the building,” South Daytona Police Capt. Mark Cheatham said, according to The News-Journal.
He also said the shooting took place sometime between Sunday evening and Monday morning. “We are working to see if we can get video from nearby businesses, but so far we have no witnesses,” he added.
Other local politicians weighed in as well.
“The state of our political discourse in America is an embarrassment to all parties and those involved in the political process,” Republican State Rep. Tom Leek said in response to the shooting and damage to the office.
“Neither Democrats nor Republicans own the high ground on this issue,” Leek continued. “Sooner or later, both parties are going to have to stop suffering idiots within their own party, and cast them out on their own.”
Jewel Dickson, the Volusia Democratic Party chair, responded to the shooting by calling it “appalling,” said The Daily Wire, but added, “I would not be quick to blame a Democrat for doing that.”
Tensions across the nation remain high after a shooter terrorized members of the Tree of Life synagogue in the Squirrel Hill area of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, during worship services Saturday morning, killing 11 people and injuring six more.
Though the suspect was not immediately named by authorities, by 1:30 p.m. authorities had identified him as Robert D. Bowers.
This tragedy followed a tense week that saw multiple anonymous packages containing crude pipe bombs mailed to high-profile Democrats and liberal donors, and also to CNN studios in New York City. The packages never reached their ultimate destinations, and no bombs went off.
Federal authorities arrested a suspect in Florida on Friday in connection with that string of suspicious packages containing crude explosive devices.
“We can confirm one person is in custody,” tweeted Sarah Isgur Flores, director of the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Office of Public Affairs, in part, on Friday.
We can confirm one person is in custody. We will hold a press conference at the Department of Justice at 2:30pm ET.
— Sarah Isgur Flores (@whignewtons) October 26, 2018
The suspect is 56-year-old Cesar Sayoc, a man known to local police.
See more about the Florida shooting damage in the video below.
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