Concerns linger after gunfire damages Arizona Democratic campaign office

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TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — Police were posted outside a Democratic Party campaign office in a quiet suburban strip mall in the Phoenix area Wednesday after two shootings at the office door and windows over the past week.

Tempe police have yet to identify suspects or a motive, but questions are swirling as party workers worry about their safety.

Political violence already has marred this year’s campaign season, with former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, being targeted by two assassination attempts — one at a campaign rally and the other at a Florida golf course.

Acknowledging repeated threats, the U.S. House voted just last week to require the U.S. Secret Service to use the same standards when assigning agents to major presidential candidates as they do presidents and vice presidents.

Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, will be making a campaign swing through the Southwestern U.S. over the weekend with stops near the Arizona border on Friday and in the swing state of Nevada on Sunday.

Lindsay Bailey was expecting to pick up a Harris yard sign when she and her 17-year-old daughter visited the campaign office in Tempe on Wednesday. The office was empty and its front windows were perforated with bullet holes.

“There’s a major division within this country, and it’s scary,” said Bailey, a 47-year-old nurse.

Tempe police are investigating the damage at the strip mall as a property crime. Once home to a barber shop, the campaign office is near a daycare and a fitness center.

In the first shooting on Sept. 16, authorities reported that pellet or BB gun rounds hit the office. As with the gunfire reported Sept. 23, no one was inside the building at the time and there were no injuries, said Sgt. Ryan Cook, a spokesman for the Tempe Police Department.

The Tempe location is one of 18 Harris field offices in Arizona.

The current political climate worries Alexis Maher, 29, who works at a nearby home furnishing store.

“It just leads me to think that if something doesn’t go the way that those people want it to go that this election season is going to be kind of scary,” Maher said.

Detectives are analyzing evidence collected from the scene, and Cook said “additional measures” were being taken to ensure the safety of staff and others in the area.

Cook said police are investigating “all possible motives.” He didn’t provide any more details about the type of weapon used in the second shooting or whether there might have been security camera footage from either of the two nights at issue.

___ Gabriel Sandoval is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

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