OKEANA: As Kristen King’s husband lay dying in their yard from three gunshots to his head, the 911 operator asked her: Did she know who killed him – or why? Sobbing, King identified the shooter as her neighbour in the small Ohio town of Okeana. “His name is Austin Combs,” she stammered. “He’s c
OKEANA: As Kristen King’s husband lay dying in their yard from three gunshots to his head, the 911 operator asked her: Did she know who killed him – or why?
The violence has killed at least 39 people, including King, roiling many aspects of American life, from small gatherings to large-scale public events. About two-thirds of the politically violent incidents documented by Reuters were assaults by lone assailants or clashes between rival groups at public events, such as demonstrations over police killings, abortion and transgender rights.
There were a few spikes in the 1990s, including the 1995 Oklahoma City federal building bombing that killed 168 people, in what the Federal Bureau of Investigation describes as the nation’s worst act of homegrown terrorism. Of the 14 fatal political attacks since the Capitol riot in which the perpetrator or suspect had a clear partisan leaning, 13 were right-wing assailants. One was on the left.
In a Reuters/Ipsos poll of nearly 4,500 registered voters in May, roughly 20 per cent of both Democratic and Republican respondents called the violence “acceptable” if committed “to achieve my idea of a better society.” And the prosecutions of Trump on charges of mishandling classified records and conspiring to overturn the 2020 election are intensifying partisan rancour over his campaign to retake the White House. Some local election offices have installed bulletproof glass and security doors amid threats of violence.
Some of the violence has pitted neighbour against neighbour, upending communities like the hardscrabble section of southwestern Ohio where Austin Combs was raised – and where there’s little love for Democrats. Some bear his “Make America Great Again” slogan or “Let’s go Brandon,” conservative code for an expletive directed at Democratic President Joe Biden, who captured just 37 per cent of the county’s vote in 2020.
Combs, the man who killed his neighbour after calling him a Democrat, considered himself a staunch conservative and ardent Trump supporter, according to interviews with four people who knew him.Combs confessed to the shooting in jail, the county prosecutor said and was charged with murder. His attorney, Wayne Staton, said the killing was not political but a matter of “mental illness,” and Combs pleaded not guilty.
One former classmate, Bri Smith, recalled Combs being frequently in trouble. In an interview, she said Combs would run through the high-school hallway and try to grab at girls’ bodies, shouting “honk honk.” After high school, Combs struggled to find regular work, in part because of “psychological impediments,” his attorneys wrote in a Nov 22 court filing.
He often stopped by Terry B’s Tavern, a bar decorated with Trump campaign paraphernalia, from a mini statue of Trump to a brown sports cap reading, “Hillary for prison.” The two frequently expressed mutual admiration for Trump and spoke of how much better America would be if he were reelected, she said.
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