Police investigating shooting at Pat Harrigan’s parents’ home
Police in North Carolina are investigating a shooting that took place last month at the home of Republican congressional candidate Pat Harrigan’s parents.
Harrigan’s children were sleeping in the home — only a few feet from where a single bullet pierced a window, Harrigan’s campaign manager told the Carolina Journal on Thursday.
A police report obtained by The Post confirmed that a firearm was used in the Oct. 18 incident and that the bullet ripped through a window in the home’s laundry room. No injuries were reported.
The Hickory Police Department is investigating the case.
Harrigan, a West Point graduate and former Green Beret who served in Afghanistan, ripped his Democratic opponent, state Sen. Jeff Jackson, in a tweet where he referenced the shooting.
“Jeff Jackson’s politics lead to rising inflation, economic ruin, & rampant crime — including political violence,” Harrigan wrote on Thursday. “My mission is a better economy, less inflation & safe streets.”
“A bullet & death threats aren’t enough to knock this Green Beret off that mission,” he added.
Local, state, and federal officials are involved in the investigation into the shooting, Harrigan’s campaign manager told The Carolina Journal. It is unclear if Harrigan and his family were receiving additional law enforcement protection as a result of the incident.
Harrigan’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The race between Jackson and Harrigan is expected to be a close contest in the newly created 14th District, which covers most of Charlotte and its southern and western suburbs.
The shooting is the latest in a string of seemingly politically motivated attacks and threats against political figures.
Republican New Hampshire Senate candidate Don Bolduc dodged a punch from a would-be assailant moments before he went onstage to debate Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) on Wednesday. Bolduc, 60, a retired Army brigadier general, was unharmed.
A Chicago man was arrested and charged earlier this week with sending death threats to Illinois Republican gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey. Scott Lennox, 21, allegedly threatened to “skin Darren Bailey alive” in a voicemail left at his campaign headquarters after becoming enraged over a political ad that aired on TV at a local bar.
Last week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband Paul was attacked by a hammer-wielding assailant who broke into the couple’s San Francisco home. The House speaker was the apparent target and was not home at the time. Paul Pelosi reportedly suffered a fractured skull in the attack and was released from the hospital on Thursday.
President Biden condemned political violence in a speech Wednesday, warning of a “disturbing rise of voter intimidation” and “the pernicious tendency to excuse political violence, or at least trying to explain it away.”
“We can’t allow the sentiment to grow,” added the president, who pinned much of the blame for the wrongdoing on supporters of former President Donald Trump.
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