Cops Bust Machete-Wielding Man Who Showed Up at Florida Polling Station to ‘Antagonize’ Democrats

An 18-year-old was arrested on Tuesday after he was caught wielding a machete while trying to intimidate two women at a Florida polling station.

Neptune Beach Police Chief Michael Key said at a press conference that Caleb James Williams came to a Jacksonville library that was serving as a polling station with seven other teenage boys with the intent to “protest and antagonize the opposing political side.” NBC News reported that the boys approached two women ages 54 and 71 who were holding signs in support of Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. The boys were carrying flags in support of former President Donald Trump according to a statement from the Duval County Democratic Party. Williams was caught on camera brandishing a machete with an 18-inch blade.

Williams was charged with aggravated assault on a person 65 years of age or older and improper exhibition of a firearm or dangerous weapon. The group, according to Key, were there “for no other reason but for ill intentions, to cause a disturbance.” The seven other boys did not engage in any activities that would “cross the criminal threshold.” Key also made a statement regarding freedom of expression during a heated political campaign:

This goes way beyond expressing freedom of speech — to say your piece is First Amendment-protected right but that goes out the window the moment you raise a machete over your head in a threatening manner.

Watch the video above via News4Jax The Local Station on YouTube.