A sword-wielding assailant wearing a red “Make America Great Again” hat slashed a man in the hand during an altercation outside a popular roller-skating rink in San Francisco’s Western Addition on Friday, officials said.
Police are searching for the attacker, who fled the scene outside the Church of 8 Wheels on Fillmore and Fell streets, leaving his victim bleeding profusely on the sidewalk outside the crowded skating spot.
Investigators were searching for security video and speaking to witnesses Saturday as they tried to piece together the details of the bloody confrontation that unfolded during the rink’s Friday night adults-only roller disco.
Officers were called to the scene around 9:50 p.m. on the report of a stabbing, said Officer Robert Rueca, a San Francisco police spokesman. They learned that the victim, whose name was not released, had been approached by another man, who was wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat, and the two got into a verbal dispute, he said.
The victim tried to grab the hat, a symbol of President Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, and the other man whipped out a sword and slashed him, Rueca said. Police originally reported that the victim was wearing the hat, but changed their statement late Saturday.
Scott Sweeney, 24, said he saw a man wearing the recognizable hat with a sword tucked into the back of his jacket about 30 minutes before the attack. The man, Sweeney said, was shouting homophobic slurs at him.
“In my mind I didn’t think it was a real sword until we came out later and police were on the scene and there was blood and the hat on ground,” he said.
David Miles, who goes by the nickname “Sk8father” and started the roller rink at the former Sacred Heart Catholic Church, was inside during the dispute. He said he didn’t see the attack but ran out to help the victim.
“I came outside. The guy was cut, he was bleeding like you wouldn’t believe,” Miles said Saturday. “He was just gushing blood, so we got the first aid kit from inside and tried to stop the bleeding.”
Paramedics quickly arrived and took the victim to a hospital, where he was treated for non-life-threatening injuries, police said. Miles said officers asked him if a man dressed as a pirate had come into the roller rink, but he hadn’t seen anyone like that.
Miles posted pictures of the bloody aftermath of the attack on Facebook, showing the red hat near a pool of blood. The victim had apparently chased his attacker before realizing how badly he was bleeding, he said.
“This is the last thing you think is going to happen,” he said. “I’m very, very, very concerned. I don’t really know what to think.”
Police are asking anyone with information about the attack to call investigators at 415-575-4444.
A sword, huh? That's new. I guess someone took "Medieval values" a bit literally.
I really hope that the initial report that the Trump supporter was the victim was an honest mistake, because that's going to be used for all sorts of misinformation and false flag bullshit.
"I know its easy to be defeatist here because nothing has seemingly reigned Trump in so far. But I will say this: every asshole succeeds until finally, they don't. Again, 18 months before he resigned, Nixon had a sky-high approval rating of 67%. Harvey Weinstein was winning Oscars until one day, he definitely wasn't."-John Oliver
"The greatest enemy of a good plan is the dream of a perfect plan."-General Von Clauswitz, describing my opinion of Bernie or Busters and third partiers in a nutshell.
I SUPPORT A NATIONAL GENERAL STRIKE TO REMOVE TRUMP FROM OFFICE.
The guy in the MAGA hat was obviously looking for trouble and an excuse to use his sword, so he's in the wrong for that. That said if he was just yelling and being obnoxious why engage him at all? Just call the cops about an aggressive person with a sword outside of a family roller rink and they'll come to move him along.
Instead, two grown adults start shouting at one another because apparently in the US if somebody shouts at you the only option is to engage them and shout back. Then the eventual victim of a sword attack tries to steal the douchebag's MAGA hat and the MAGA swordsman uses his weapon to defend his person...
This is just a mess of bad choices all around and If not for the fact that a sword and politics are involved this would be a case of play stupid games win stupid prizes and would be lucky to escape the local news. Instead, it's being picked up everywhere because everything is politics these days.
You know what the difference between the MAGA supporter and the guy who argued back is (besides the MAGA guy starting it in the first place, I mean)?
Only one of them committed assault with a deadly weapon.
"I know its easy to be defeatist here because nothing has seemingly reigned Trump in so far. But I will say this: every asshole succeeds until finally, they don't. Again, 18 months before he resigned, Nixon had a sky-high approval rating of 67%. Harvey Weinstein was winning Oscars until one day, he definitely wasn't."-John Oliver
"The greatest enemy of a good plan is the dream of a perfect plan."-General Von Clauswitz, describing my opinion of Bernie or Busters and third partiers in a nutshell.
I SUPPORT A NATIONAL GENERAL STRIKE TO REMOVE TRUMP FROM OFFICE.
The Romulan Republic wrote: ↑2019-03-31 11:09pmYou know what the difference between the MAGA supporter and the guy who argued back is (besides the MAGA guy starting it in the first place, I mean)?
Only one of them committed assault with a deadly weapon.
Yeah, and I said he was in the wrong. That doesn't absolve the other person who escalated things by going for his hat either, that was plain dumb and played right into the MAGA swordsman's plan. If people had just let him yell he'd likely have left without doing anything given that what he did do was make one shitty swipe with his sword and run away.
Yes, he was more wrong than the person who tried to steal his hat, but that doesn't make the whole situation less stupid or avoidable.
I will also point out, it’s San Francisco, which has an extremely large homeless and mentally ill community on the streets, so it’s also possible it was just a crazy person with a sword.
Slight modulation; it's definitely just a crazy person with a sword, and that crazy person may also have been a Trump supporter to some unknown and utterly unimportant degree.
“Heroes are heroes because they are heroic in behavior, not because they won or lost.” Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Yeah, and he totally wanted a katana, but that scimitar was all he could find rummaging around in the local dumpsters.
"Do I really look like a guy with a plan? Y'know what I am? I'm a dog chasing cars. I wouldn't know what to do with one if I caught it! Y'know, I just do things..." --The Joker
Raw Shark wrote: ↑2019-04-01 09:12pm
Yeah, and he totally wanted a katana, but that scimitar was all he could find rummaging around in the local dumpsters.
This.
The rest of you are really reaching, trying to come up with reasons for why this totally has nothing to do with Trump, even though it obviously does.
Esquire wrote: ↑2019-04-01 06:40pm
Slight modulation; it's definitely just a crazy person with a sword, and that crazy person may also have been a Trump supporter to some unknown and utterly unimportant degree.
His apparent Trumper affiliation is important because it forms another piece in an ongoing pattern of violent behavior towards groups of people Trump and his supporters have publicly attacked, behaviour which is likely inspired/fueled at least in part by the PotUS's rhetoric and condoning of violent extremism.
"I know its easy to be defeatist here because nothing has seemingly reigned Trump in so far. But I will say this: every asshole succeeds until finally, they don't. Again, 18 months before he resigned, Nixon had a sky-high approval rating of 67%. Harvey Weinstein was winning Oscars until one day, he definitely wasn't."-John Oliver
"The greatest enemy of a good plan is the dream of a perfect plan."-General Von Clauswitz, describing my opinion of Bernie or Busters and third partiers in a nutshell.
I SUPPORT A NATIONAL GENERAL STRIKE TO REMOVE TRUMP FROM OFFICE.
It's really not important, though. It's a weird sensational one-in-350 million crazy man does crazy thing story, and the correct amount of national reporting for it is exactly zero. Don't be seduced by the dark sidee of the 24-hour news cycle.
“Heroes are heroes because they are heroic in behavior, not because they won or lost.” Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Oh, sure, by itself there are bigger stories. What I'm concerned about is that this is part of a pattern, and I think its important to keep pointing out that there is a pattern, that there are consequences for Trump's rhetoric, that he tends to attract awful people like flies to shit, and that there's a reason for that (because he thinks, acts and talks in a way that appeals to them).
"I know its easy to be defeatist here because nothing has seemingly reigned Trump in so far. But I will say this: every asshole succeeds until finally, they don't. Again, 18 months before he resigned, Nixon had a sky-high approval rating of 67%. Harvey Weinstein was winning Oscars until one day, he definitely wasn't."-John Oliver
"The greatest enemy of a good plan is the dream of a perfect plan."-General Von Clauswitz, describing my opinion of Bernie or Busters and third partiers in a nutshell.
I SUPPORT A NATIONAL GENERAL STRIKE TO REMOVE TRUMP FROM OFFICE.
The Romulan Republic wrote: ↑2019-04-02 12:48am
Oh, sure, by itself there are bigger stories. What I'm concerned about is that this is part of a pattern, and I think its important to keep pointing out that there is a pattern, that there are consequences for Trump's rhetoric, that he tends to attract awful people like flies to shit, and that there's a reason for that (because he thinks, acts and talks in a way that appeals to them).
Honestly, I doubt Trump has moved the needle as much as people think he has. His followers are just easier to identify wearing stupid hats and proclaiming their allegiance before doing dumb shit so they're easier to track. {lus, even if the attack wasn't political in the current climate news outlets are going to dig for a way to make anything and everything political because people on both sides will lap it up right now.
Do we have hard numbers for politically motivated violence rising post-Trump or is it just heavily reported on?
Weirdo does dumb crime with a sword is less rare of a crime than you'd think. I'm literally doing sentencing research right now and that fact pattern had come up twice is the last 50 or do cases.
There are literally millions of Trump supporters of varying intensity. Just by law of large numbers a fair number are doing noteworthy dumb things and it wouldn't be evidence of a wider trend.
Homophobic man pulls out his long weapon, takes it in his hand, waves it for attention and thrusts it into another guys hand....
Mmmmmmmm.
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