Shooting threats prompt increased security for GOP debate watch party
Security will be tighter at the El Paso County watch party for Tuesday’s GOP presidential debate following concern over recent threats made against Republicans.
“It was clear to us after the events of the last week that we need to heighten security,” said Daniel Cole, executive director of the El Paso County Republican Party. “We take all comments about shooting Republicans seriously.”
A Fountain woman was arrested last week after she called a Denver Planned Parenthood and made a threat. Police said she left a voice message saying she was tempted to “walk into a Republican Party meeting … and just start shooting people.”
Also last week, a former co-chairman of the local American Civil Liberties Union branch posted on Facebook that supporters of Donald Trump should be told “I will shoot you.” Loring Wirbel said he never intended his post to be taken seriously and resigned from his volunteer position after his comment went viral.
Cole said he has received two phone calls from people who were concerned enough about the threats to contact the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Cole wouldn’t get into specifics but he said security will be stepped up Tuesday night.
“There will be a robust security presence,” Cole said. “Between it and all the concealed carriers in the room, everyone should feel perfectly safe.”
The watch party begins at 6 p.m. at Stargazers Theater, 10 S. Parkside Dr. and the CNN debate starts at 7 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. A straw poll will be conducted after the event to see who participants felt won the debate.
Cole said about 150 cast ballots at the last debate and Ted Cruz came out as the winner with Ben Carson in second place. Jeb Bush didn’t get a single vote, he said.
The debate Tuesday is at The Venetian hotel in Las Vegas.
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Contact Megan Schrader: 286-0644
Twitter @CapitolSchrader
Headed into last debate, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio was nowhere near the top of the Republican presidential pack — at least as far as national polls are concerned.
In this Dec. 2, 2015, photo, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, seen in reflection, poses for a portrait following an interview with The Associated Press at the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Va. TrumpÂ’s campaign for president is built on the same win-at-all-costs, no-second-guessing confidence that made him billions in real estate and a star of reality television. Yet in a recent interview with The AP, the GOP frontrunner displayed rare _ if fleeting _ moments of humility and introspection. “I think I could lose a state, sure,” Trump said of the first three states to vote in next yearÂ’s presidential primaries. “If I came in second or third I think that would be, you know, I wouldnÂ’t be happy, ‘cause I want to win.” (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, poses for a portrait following an interview with the Associated Press in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2015. Cruz outlined an approach to foreign policy inspired by Ronald Reagan, saying he would restore the American leadership missing from the world under President Barack Obama. But pressed on how he would address specific hotspots of today, Cruz places limits on American action, including refusing to back ground troops to combat the Islamic State. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)