COBB COUNTY, Ga. — A man from Georgia was arrested after firing shots in response to warning shots from a business owner over a Trump banner, officials said.
Mark Thomas, owner of the Paddle Inn Rafting Company in North Carolina, told Channel 2 Cobb County Bureau Chief Michele Newell he fired warning shots after witnessing a man rip a Trump banner from his 87-year-old mother’s property.
“I watched in disbelief to be honest; I know he’s not fixing to reach up there and grab that sign, but he did,” Mark Thomas said.
He was at his business at the time, which is across the street from his mother’s home.
Thomas said the suspect, Benjamin Campbell, returned fire through the sunroof of his vehicle.
“It wasn’t until the fifth shot when he was 90 degrees to my right now he disappeared,” he said. “The fifth shot actually hit something there at my house,”
Thomas said Campbell appeared to leave but returned, firing several more shots. That’s when he called 911.
“I said, ‘He’s shooting! He’s shooting again!’ And I dropped my phone and grabbed my rifle and on the front porch I went again,” he said.
Campbell was later arrested in Cobb County on numerous charges, including felonious assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill.
Thomas expressed a desire to understand Campbell’s motives.
“I would like to sit down and talk with the guy,” he said. “I really would, and trying to figure him out. What caused you to stop and do something like that?”
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