The victim has been identified as Chris Monzon.
Police have arrested two men they say participated in the attack of a volunteer for Republican Sen. Marco Rubio’s campaign in Miami-Dade County.
Hialeah police said 27-year-old Jonathan Casanova was arrested Tuesday night after being located at Pine Tree Park in Miami Beach.
Casanova and Javier Lopez, 25, attacked a man Sunday who was canvassing for Rubio and Gov. Ron DeSantis, according to an arrest report.
According to that report, the victim said in a sworn statement that while he was handing out flyers, the two suspects were blocking the sidewalk and Casanova told him “he couldn’t pass through because he was a Republican and his dogs were ready to attack.”
According to the suspects’ arrest reports, Lopez “rushed the victim and threw him on the ground.”
Police said Casanova then “began to kick the victim on the head as he was on the ground” as Lopez began punching the victim.
According to authorities, a witness eventually pulled Casanova away from the victim, who then walked to his white Mercedes-Benz SUV, where he released two German Shepherds and walked them toward the victim, who was still on the ground.
Casanova’s arrest report states that he then ordered his dogs to attack and bite the victim.
A campaign canvasser for Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) was attacked and seriously injured late Sunday night by an assailant who told him Republicans weren’t welcome in his neighborhood, Rubio and local police said Monday.
Javier Lopez, 25, of Hialeah, was arrested at the scene by responding cops who found the unidentified victim with cuts and bruises.
Hialeah police said the victim was distributing campaign materials in the Miami-area city when Lopez approached him and said “he was not allowed to walk on the sidewalk and pass out fliers in his neighborhood.”
The canvasser walked across the street to avoid Lopez, but Lopez followed him, officials added.
“Mr. Lopez then struck the victim multiple times in the face causing the injuries,” a police spokesperson said.
Rubio tweeted several pictures of the victim, showing him bloodied and swollen in the back of an ambulance and in a hospital bed.
These are the two thugs:
Both of them have criminal records:
In 2016, Casanova was charged with armed robbery and kidnapping; he served probation on the first charge. He was also hit with a felony count of grand theft that year, though that case was dropped by prosecutors.
Lopez is out on probation stemming from two separate burglary and theft cases dating back to 2017 and 2018. In one of the cases, he was accused of robbing a local business while armed with a knife. The other case involved his arrest after police found him driving a stolen vehicle.
Last year, Lopez faced another criminal case in which he was charged with three counts of assault with a deadly weapon. The case was dropped by prosecutors and closed out in April 2021.
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