A 40-year old Long Beach woman was charged with attempted murder after running her vehicle into a crowd of Trump supporters, critically injuring two, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department said.
Tatiana Turner, a self-identified member of the leftist group Caravan for Justice, was arrested and detained at the Orange County Jail on charges of attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon after striking at least two people with her vehicle in the parking lot of the Yorba Linda Public Library in Southern California just outside Los Angeles.
The victims, a man and a woman, were transported to a local hospital with injuries that were described as severe. A spokesperson for the hospital said both are expected to survive.
Caravan for Justice is described as a “social justice” group that has, in the past, protested with the Black Lives Matter organization. Turner was wearing a black t-shirt that had “#Caravan4Justice” when she was apprehended by sheriff’s deputies.
A witness to the incident said Turner sought out a group of Trump supporters that had confronted BLM protesters earlier in the day. “Someone ran their car through a crowd of Trump supporters,” one individual who witnessed the attack said.
Video footage showed a white passenger car plowing through a crowd of people holding American flags in the library parking lot.
Someone ran their car through a crowd of Trump supporters. OC Sheriffs took the person into custody. Ambulances were dispatched, but I don't have information on injuries pic.twitter.com/EAWBSXS8R1
— Border Photog #blm (@desertborder) September 26, 2020
Prior to assaulting the two people with her car, Turner reportedly pepper sprayed several people without provocation and brandished a weapon in a menacing fashion, one witness said.
Reports of violence between the Caravan for Justice protesters and counterdemonstrators were reported to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office about 30 minutes before the scheduled 2pm event.
There were about 250 in attendance.
