SAN FRANCISCO, Sept 6 (Reuters) – An armed individual attacked Ohio gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton on Sunday at the Canfield Fair near Youngstown, according to her campaign and the state highway patrol.
Acton, the Democratic nominee for governor, was unharmed.
The 38-year-old suspect, Patrick Havas, knocked over multiple people at the fair while trying to reach Acton, Ohio State Highway Patrol said in an email to Reuters. Havas had a taser and two pistols on his person, the highway patrol said.
Havas was taken to Mahoning County Jail and charged with disorderly conduct and two counts of assault, the highway patrol said. It was not immediately clear if Havas had retained legal representation.
The Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment. Ohio State Highway Patrol and the sheriff’s office were investigating what have led to the incident, the OSHP said, but no other details were available.
“This kind of violence has no place in Ohio,” Acton campaign spokesperson Addie Bullock said in a statement.
Connie Luck, a spokesperson for the campaign of Acton’s Republican opponent in the general election, Vivek Ramaswamy, called the incident “completely unacceptable.”
“Candidates should be able to meet with voters without having to worry about threats or violence,” Luck said in a statement.
Chris Anderson, chairman of the Mahoning County Democratic Party, and Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, a Republican who cannot run for reelection because of term limits, both condemned the attack.
(Reporting by Abhirup Roy in San Francisco; Additional reporting by Kathrine Jackson and Brad Brooks; Editing by Sergio Non and Tom Hogue)
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