Teen Arrested For Threatening People With A Machete Outside Polling Site

Authorities in Florida arrested an 18-year-old who is accused of threatening people with a machete outside of a polling location on Tuesday (October 29). The Neptune Beach Police Department said that Caleb James Williams showed up at the Beaches Branch Library with a group of seven juveniles to antagonize people who were there holding signs in support of Vice President Kamala Harris.

"The group was there for no other reason but for ill intentions, to cause a disturbance, " Police Chief Michael J. Key Jr. said.

As the two sides started arguing back and forth, Williams pulled out a machete and held it over his head, threatening two women, ages 54 and 71.

The woman called the police in response to the threat.

When officers arrived, they took Williams into custody on charges of aggravated assault on a person 65 or older and improper exhibition of a dangerous weapon.

"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," Key said.

The other members of the group were not arrested, with Key noting that their actions did not "cross the criminal threshold."

"We are deeply concerned about a violent incident today at the Beaches Library, where a group of young men carrying Trump flags, with one individual armed with a machete, confronted peaceful Harris-Walz sign-wavers exercising their First Amendment rights."