FIRST ON FOX: A California man has been charged with attempted murder after allegedly critically injuring a man outside an Escondido home known for displays of American flags, pro-Trump messages and other banners, according to local police.
The 32-year-old suspect, Thomas Caleb Butler, is being held in the Vista Detention Facility in San Diego County.
Around 2:15 p.m. Wednesday, Escondido police officers responded to reports of an assault at the intersection of East Mission Avenue and Buchanan Street.
They found an elderly male “suffering from significant injuries” and said that a good Samaritan who intervened had also been hurt, according to authorities.
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By the time they arrived, the suspect had fled on foot, police said. However, additional officers found him about a half-mile away. Records show Butler lives around the corner from the victim.
Escondido police did not name the victim, who was hospitalized in critical condition. Public records show the property is owned by a 69-year-old man.
Reports of the attack prompted Rep. Darrell Issa, whose district includes parts of Escondido, to demand “a full and immediate investigation.”
Anyone with information on the attack is asked to call Escondido police at (760) 839-4722 and reference case No. 26004339.
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Some neighbors have complained about the displays for years, which tower over the side of the property.
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Video taken in the aftermath of the attack shows a man pointing responding officers toward something and then gesturing as though someone was being kicked or stomped.
Police placed evidence markers in the street and photographed the front of the home, near a mailbox and a parked pickup truck with two American flags set up over the bed.
Just a few feet away, another parked car had its hood propped open.
Another image showed what appeared to be blood at the foot of the driveway between the two vehicles.
Escondido police did not immediately respond to a request for comment before West Coast business hours Thursday.
A Reddit post in the r/sandiego forum last year showed a man in a folding chair sitting on the sidewalk outside the home, with an American flag in his right hand and the left gesturing in what the poster described as a “Roman salute.”
