A Virginia man who was arrested for allegedly attacking a Democrat congressman’s staffers with a bat was also charged with a hate crime over a violent threat he made to a white woman.
Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) released a statement detailing the attack on his staffers on Monday.
He said that the bat-wielding man entered his office in Fairfax and asked to see Connolly “before committing an act of violence against two members of my staff.” He said one of the staffers attacked was on their first day on the job.
Police apprehended the suspect, who was later identified as 49-year-old Xuan-Kha Tran Pham.
The two staffers were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries.
Pham was arraigned on Tuesday and faces charges of aggravated wounding and malicious aggravated wounding.
Police said that he also had approached a woman who was sitting in her car and asked her if she was white. When she said yes, he hit her windshield with his bat. Video captured him chasing her with the bat as she screamed, but he gave up the chase.
Pham was also charged with a misdemeanor hate crime charge and a felony count of destroying property.
Connolly said that the man had previously called his office to ask for help on some issue but that he made irrational comments on the call.
Pham’s father told CNN that he suffers from schizophrenia and that his family has tried to get him help in the past.
CNN reported that Pham had been previously arrested for assaulting an officer but that prosecutors refused to file charges against him.
“I have no reason to believe that his motivation was politically motivated, but it is possible that the sort of toxic political environment we all live in, you know, set him off, and I would just hope all of us would take a little more time to be careful about what we say and how we say it,” said Connolly.
Here’s more about the Virginia attack:
Video shows bat-wielding man chasing woman before allegedly attacking lawmaker’s stafferswww.youtube.com
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