On February 19, an activist helping a conservative group recruit on the University of California-Berkeley campus was physically assaulted by a man who called him “racist” and threatened to “shoot” him. In a confrontation caught on video, the angry suspect punched the activist square in the face after shoving him multiple times and slapping his cell phone out of his hand. According to a spokesman for the school, police have identified the as-of-yet unnamed suspect and are seeking a “felony warrant” for his arrest.
“‘One week after the incident that received national backlash, the campus has concluded its investigation of the incident,’ said campus spokesperson Dan Mogulof in a statement released Tuesday afternoon,” student-led newspaper The Daily Californian reports.
“Based on the results of that investigation, the department is seeking a felony warrant from the Alameda County District Attorney for the identified suspect,” said Mogulof. If the warrant is approved, said Mogulof, the UCPD will “immediately” take action to arrest the suspect.
As The Daily Wire has chronicled, the brutal attack on Hayden Williams, a field representative for the conservative Leadership Institute, has gained national attention in large part because of viral video footage of the incident (below).
While Williams (who is not a student at the school) was helping recruit for Turning Point USA at the Upper Sproul Plaza last Tuesday, two men approached the table. Apparently triggered by signs stating “Hate crime hoaxes hurt real victims” and “This is MAGA Country” — both references to the Jussie Smollett case — one of the men, wearing a black shirt, began to argue with Williams.
When the suspect’s rhetoric escalated, Williams, who is smaller in stature, began to film the conversation on his cell phone. That’s when things turned violent. The suspect began to repeatedly shove Williams, at one point threatening to “shoot” him, and then, as caught on video by a witness, sucker-punched Williams in the face before walking away.
Campus Reform, which is owned and operated by the Leadership Institute, obtained exclusive footage from Williams, which it compiled with the witness’ footage in the video below:
Daily Wire contributor and former Berkeley College Republicans president Bradley Devlin tweeted out a photo of Williams with a badly swollen eye after the attack:
University officials have condemned the attack and vowed to take appropriate action against the suspect.
Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, who tweeted out the initial footage of the incident, issued a statement last Thursday in which he decried the double standard of the media and underscored that conservative activists frequently “face threats of violence and discrimination” on college campuses.
“This assault reveals the hate and anger so many on the left harbor and that our student activists encounter on a daily basis,” said Kirk. “Our amazing grassroots organizers courageously face threats of violence and discrimination as they fight for the right for conservative voices to be heard on college campuses. I am proud of how our student activists at UC Berkeley comported themselves in what was a very scary and difficult situation. Sadly, if the roles were reversed and a conservative student wearing a MAGA hat had attacked a member of a leftist organization, the story would be a leading headline on the nightly news across all major networks. This is a hate crime pure and simple and the suspect should be held accountable.”
Related: Interview With Jussie Smollett Resurfaces: ‘I’m About To Break’